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Tuesday, June 26, 2007

I couldn't disagree more! redux

"I can't live without my morning coffee!"
"I can. The only time I have coffee is after a meal."

We've now already looked at how to agree with a positive or negative statement someone has just made. And we've looked at disagreeing with positive statements. Now, last but not least, we're going to look at disagreeing with negative statements.

Like disagreeing with positive statements, the key here is the emphasis you place on the word "I". By stressing the different subject pronoun, you're highlighting the contrast with the other person's opinion. We also usually follow this up with a statement of our own opinion or likes.

Of course, like the other forms we've looked at, you need to use the appropriate auxiliary: am/is/are, can/could, do/does/did, have/has/had, should, will, would, etc. Notice that you need to use the positive to establish the contrast with the original negative statement. You CANNOT use a contraction in the response.

Let's look at some examples:

"I'm not going anywhere on holiday [AmEng vacation] this year."
"I am. I'm going trekking in the Himalayas. I can't wait!"

"I haven't got any money."
"I have. Don't worry, I'll spot you some cash."

"I couldn't possibly go on a TV reality show."
"I could! I think it would be fun!"

"I've never run a marathon."
"I have. It's a lot of work and you have to train hard. But it's very satisfying to finish."

Notice that in the last example, although there is no "not/n't", the word "never" functions like a negative and so the response is in the positive.

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