Affirmative and Negative Statements
When people speak together, they often agree or disagree about things. We can use simple forms to express our agreement or disagreement.
Agreeing and disagreeing
When people speak together, they often agree, or disagree about things. For example:
My father likes volleyball and I like football.
My father is tired and I am tired.
My father doesn't like cheese amd I don't like cheese.
My father is not patient, and I am not patient.
Things that are true for us
When we speak about these things, it is possible that I want to explain that the things that are true for my father are also true, or not true, for me.
Below are some of the ways we can do this:
So + Neither (with be and do)
We use so and neither (or not either) when we want to agree that something which is true for another person is also true for us.
We use 'so' to agree with positive statements and 'neither' (or 'not either') to agree with negative statements. If the main verb in the statement is 'be', we use 'be' in the response, but for all other verbs, we use 'do' in the response. If the statement uses a modal verb (such as can, would, will, etc) we use the same modal in our response.
Form:
So + verb + subject (to agree with positive statements)
Neither + verb + subject (to agree with negative statements)
Examples
My father says: "I like football."
My response is: "So do I."My father says: "I'm tired."
My response is: "So am I."My father says: "I don't like cheese."
My response is: "Neither do I."My father says: "I am not very patient with other people."
My response is: "Neither an I."My father says: "I would like a beer!"
My response is: "So would I."My father says: "I can't swim very well."
My response is: "Neither can I."
Things that aren't true for us
We use the verb 'be' or the auxiliary verb 'do' without 'so' or 'neither' when we want to say that what is true for another person is not true for us.
In the examples below, John makes a statement but Simon does not agree with him.
John says: "Im tired."
Simon replies: "I'm not."John says: "I'm not sleepy."
Simon replies: "I am."John says: "I like mushrooms."
Simon says: "I don't."John and his wife say: "We don't like art."
Simon and his wife reply: "We do."
