“Have no fear! I shall rescue you.”

English Lesson: Have no fear! I shall rescue you.

You're at your girlfriend's house. She sees a spider in the kitchen. She seems to be really afraid of it, and asks you to get rid of it for her. You think it's funny that she's so scared, so you pretend to be a superhero.

Have no fear! I shall rescue you.

Want Video and Sound? Follow us on YouTube

Have no fear.

"Have no fear" means "Don't be afraid" or "Don't worry."

This expression is famous as something that the comic book character Superman says when he arrives to save someone:

Have no fear. Superman is here!

So when you say this, you sound like a superhero, or maybe like a knight who's come to save a princess.

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 movies, superheroes and villains sometimes use "shall":

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

The speaker in the example above is using "shall" in a joking way, to pretend that he is like a superhero for fighting against the spider.

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.