I shall be 17

[Jim Walker]

>>To me (USA, born 1948) it sounds definitely English. That is, I can't
think
>>of it without hearing it in some British accent. In US speech it is
indeed,
>>imho, a definite no-no. Outside of formal writing, including I think
>>certain legal usages, "shall" is dead west of the Pond.
>
>The question wasn't whether the sentence would be infrequent or unusual in
>many regions/contexts; the question was (I think) whether it is "absolutely
>impossible".

That was indeed the thrust of my original question. It *is* interesting, of
course, that there exists a difference between US and UK usage (though maybe
that should be England, rather than UK, because I've often seen references
to how 'shall' is little used in Scots and Irish Englishes), but I was
thinking of it's total a/grammaticality

The grammar from which I got my "inspiration" said that 'shall' here is (I
quote): "absolument impossible". There is no reference to contextual or
dialectal differences, and given the theoretical background of the text in
question (Les clés de la grammaire anglaise by Henri Adamczewski, for the
record), it is unlikely such considerations would be entertained. 'shall' is
theoretically impossible for this author, because of what he says about the
'meaning' of the modal "shall". I am simply groping around for empirical
evidence that he is wrong, and I didn't wish to rely on my own intuitions,
which after 10 years of living in France have become decidedly unreliable.

Many thanks for all the replies so far.

Jim