Thread: will need - obligation or future act

Both of these sentences (without emphasis) seem as much suggestions as they seem obligations depending on how one reads them.

You could easily replace "will need to" with "could" and "should" in the first and second sentences, respectively.

As is often the case, it is difficult to determine the intent of writing in the absence of emphasis. If emphasis is placed on "will need" or even either word, as in "will need or will need" then it sounds more like a directive or obligation. I would think that "will" is the more decisive of the two.

Without the emphasis it could be taken either way, in my opinion.