Re: Either, neither, too, so do I, neither do I etc.

Kooyeen — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 21:28:54 GMT

Einmalige Narizsse wrote:
Hi! Hi there...
I've got question... --> I've got a question...

I've heard (in the USA):
A: I'm hungry
B: I'm either <-- No. You really heard this? Hmm...
Is it correct? No. Or I have to say "So am I". <-- This is ok. Also: "Me too" or "I'm angry too".

What about sentence below:
A: I don't know why he did it.
B: I don't know either/ Neither do I <-- Both are ok.

Or, hmm,
A:I hate chemistry
B: Neither do I / I hate either/ Me too <-- Only "me too" is ok.

And the last one:
Jews have their own New Year. And I wanna ask Jew: --> ...ask a Jew
Do you celebrate "our" New Year too/either? You need "Too". Or you could use "also": "Do you also celebrate..."

maybe in this case I shouldn't use "too" or "either", either (?) (can I say, maybe in this case neither should I use "too" nor "either"). ---> Maybe is this case I shouldn't use either (of them). Maybe I should use neither "too" nor "either". Etc.

When should I use "too", "either/neither", "so/neither do I" ??? I'm gonna tell you that in a few seconds...

I know, it's pretty easy, but I got lost.
Please help.
Regards,
EN

Too is used in affirmative sentences (=non negative), and either in negative sentences. Neither is basically not + either put together, so it already "contains" a negation. Examples:

I hate Mary. I hate her too. Me too. So do I. <-- "I hate" is affirmative.
I don't like Mary. I don't like her either. Me neither. Neither do I. <--- "I don't like" is negative
I hope she won't complain. I hope so too. Me too. So do I. <--- "I hope" is affirmative. You are referring to "I hope".
I hope she won't complain. I hope her father won't complain either. <---- This is the same as the one just above, but here you are referring to "won't complain", which is negative.
I don't think she will complain. I don't think so either. Me neither. Neither do I. <--- "don't think" is negative.

Ah, I was forgetting: did you know that there's a search function here in this forum that lets you search for old threads? There's a search box in the right top corner. Try that, you will find a lot of threads about basically anything.

And remember that I'm not a native speaker, so I'm always afraid to talk bulls... hmm, nonsense, LOL. A native speaker might tell you more later.

Re: Any or some

Kooyeen — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 17:24:50 GMT

CalifJim wrote:
For example, all of the following are wrong:

Did everyone understand any questions?
Did you give both of them any help?
Are all of the employees expecting to take any vacation time during the coming week?

Aaaargh! This thread literally made me swear, lol. Darn some and any, they always give me trouble.

I think, the difference between some and any is not "any goes in questions, some in affirmative sentences", although that's exactly what most teachers teach...
I think the difference (in questions) is this:
- Do you have any books? = I want to know if you have at least a book. It is the most general.
- Do you have some books? = I want to know if it is true that you have some books. You are actually asking directly about "some books", that's why it's usually used when you expect a positive answer.

So I don't think adding "always", "everyone", etc. actually changes anything. It's just that using them with "any" might be unusual... I don't feel like thinking of a particular example where they could work together, but I guess some examples exist.

So when you ask "Does she always bring some flowers", the common context is one where you already know she sometimes brings some flowers, or she brought some at least one time. So you are actually asking if that is always true, you are asking about always, not the flowers or how many of them she brings:
- Does she always bring some flowers? = I want to know if it's true that she always brings some. (You are asking about "always")
- Does she always bring any flowers? = literally: I want to know if she always brings at least a flower (which is ok, but has a different meaning than the above version with "some". You are asking about the flowers)

Now, I'm afraid the version with "any" doesn't sound good because "always" is usually used in comparison with other expressions of time, so in the first example it's kind of like the opposite of "sometimes", and you are asking if she always brings flowers, knowing she sometimes does.

That's the way I interpret "some" and "any". And so I was really surprised to read this:

CalifJim wrote:
It seems to me that this observation with regard to always can be extended to include the presence of any universal quantifier whatsoever in the question, so that any use of always, everywhere, every, both, or all would likewise bar the use of any in the same question.

I said that "Does she always bring any flowers?" probably sounds pretty odd because of "always". But let's take "every", as an example. I think I could put "every" in there and make it sound good, with the same meaning of the version with "always":

"Does she bring any flowers every time she get back to LA?"

I think that's the normal way to say the odd "Does she always bring any flowers?"- But be careful with intonation, or you'll end up asking if that happens every time instead of asking about the flowers, and you'd need "some" instead.

What do you guys think of my insane theories?

Search results for 'tag:Affirmative sentences tag:Regards' matching tags 'Affirmative sentences' and 'Regards'

Re: Either, neither, too, so do I, neither do I etc.

Re: Any or some