“I shall destroy all who dare to oppose me!”

You're writing a fantasy novel. There's a character in the novel who is an evil king. He hears that the hero of the story has attacked his army, so he says:

I shall destroy all who dare to oppose me!

I shall (do something)

"I shall ___" means "I will ___". But "I shall" sounds very formal. Most people only use "I shall ___" in a few specific situations:

• When making a promise during some kind of ceremony, like in a wedding.
• When speaking poetically. Here is a line from the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare, as an example:

  He was a man, take him for all in all, I shall not look upon his like again.

• In a political speech.
• On TV shows and in movies, books, and comic books, superheroes and villains sometimes use "shall":

  No matter the odds, no matter who tries to stop me, I shall prevail.

  Have no fear! I shall rescue you.

In most cases, use "I will ___" to announce things that you're going to do. Use "I'm going to ___" to talk about things that you've already planned to do.

destroy (someone)

To "destroy" someone can mean a few different things:

• to kill them
• to ruin their reputation
• to make them horribly sad and depressed

In the example above, the evil king means that he will kill the people who fight against him.

all who (do something)

In formal and old-sounding English, "all who ___" means "everyone who ___":

We honor all who have sacrificed their lives for the sake of their country.

dare to (do something)

To "dare to ___" means to do something, even though it's dangerous, risky, or might get you in trouble.

In the example at the top of this lesson, the king says he will kill everyone who "dares to" oppose him. He thinks that it's crazy for anyone to oppose him, because he is so powerful.

Here's another example of "dare to ___". It's a common inspirational quote:

Dare to be different.

This means that you should be different from other people, even though you might get in trouble or get made fun of for it.

oppose (someone)

To "oppose" someone means to disagree with them or fight with them.