Too and Either: Short Responses of Agreement

 

In English conversation, when we respond to a speaker, we often do not repeat all of their words. Instead, we may say just a few words. The speaker understands our meaning based on what is being said in the conversation.

You will hear and see examples of this everywhere that English is spoken.

On the American television show The Simpsons, for instance, Bart Simpson is a rebellious¹ youth. He likes to play tricks on others. His favorite person to trouble is Groundskeeper Willie, an unpleasant man who works on the grounds at Bart’s school.

Listen to a short exchange between Bart and Willie:

Willie, I’ve got a girlfriend.

Really? Well, uh, I do, too. She’s…a bikini model from Sweden.

Haha, that’s great.

Bart walks away, seemingly² not believing Willie. But suddenly, Willie’s beautiful Swedish girlfriend appears.

You heard Willie say, “I do, too” in response to Bart. English speakers everywhere use short responses like this one in speech and some kinds of writing.

On an earlier Everyday Grammar program, we talked about using the words “so” and “neither” in short responses of agreement. Today, I will talk about “too” and “either.”

All four words can be used to say that what is true for some person is also true for us.

The word “too” shows agreement with positive statements. And the word “either” shows agreement with negative statements. You will hear and see examples of both today.

How are they formed?

But first, let's talk about how to form these statements. When we use “too” and “either” to show agreement, they appear at the end.

The structure for “too” is:

Subject + Auxiliary³ / Be + Too

Auxiliary verbs are helping⁴ verbs that do things like help form verb tenses. The verbs “do,” “be” and “have,” for example, can act as auxiliary verbs or main verbs, depending on how they are used.

In Willie’s statement “I do, too,” the word “I” is the subject and “do” is the auxiliary. “Too” comes at the end and, in written form, often follows a comma.

The structure for “either” is:

Subject + Auxiliary / Be + Either

If Bart had said, “I don’t have a girlfriend” and that was also true for Willie, his response could have been, “I don’t either.”

When we use “too” and “either” this way, the verb tense in the response matches the verb tense in the original statement.?

I do, too / I don’t either

Let’s look at the simple present verb tense first and I will show you what I mean.

We can say “I do, too” and “I don’t either” to agree with statements in the simple present tense.

Listen to an exchange between speakers:

She speaks a second language.

I do, too.

She doesn’t speak a second language.

I don’t either.

Note that the auxiliary verb “do” is used in simple present tense in the responses.

I am, too / I’m not either

But when the main verb is “be,” we do not use an auxiliary verb.

To agree with simple present statements when the main verb is “be,” we can say, “I am, too” and “I’m not either.”

Listen to this exchange:

Ivan is an international student.

I am, too.

Ivan is not an international student.

I’m not either.

Present continuous

Pay close attention to this next one.

We also say “I am, too” and “I’m not either” to agree with statements in the present continuous verb tense. This verb tense is sometimes called “be + -ing.”

Jocelyn is going to the antique⁵ show.

I am, too.

Jocelyn isn’t going to the antique show.

I’m not either.

Here, the verb “be” acts as an auxiliary verb. The main verb is “go” and it’s in the -ing form.

I did, too / I didn’t either

Now, we will move to the simple past tense.

We can say, “I did, too” and “I didn’t either” to agree with statements in the simple past tense.

Let’s hear how our speakers use them:

We watched The Simpsons yesterday.

I did, too.

We didn’t watch The Simpsons yesterday.

I didn’t either.

I was, too / I wasn’t either

And, lastly, we can say, “I was, too” and “I wasn’t either” to agree with simple past statements when the main verb is “be.”

Here’s what our speakers say:

I was happy about the book deal.

I was, too.

I wasn’t happy about the book deal.

I wasn’t either.

You can find examples with other verb tenses as well as modal auxiliary verbs on our website: learningenglish.voanews.com.

Closing thoughts

And now for a few closing thoughts.

You might be wondering about the expressions “Me too” to respond to positive statements and “Me neither” to respond to negative statements. In English, these expressions are very informal but, in everyday conversation, completely acceptable⁶.

Another thing to note is that “too,” “either,” “so” and “neither” are not just for responses. Sometimes one speaker can state two or more agreeing ideas. For example:

Pene was happy about the book deal. I was, too.

Well, that’s all for today. Listen and watch for these short responses everywhere you hear and see English being used.

If you like watching The Simpsons, for instance, you’ll find lots of examples.

I’m Alice Bryant.

Words in This Story

respond – v. to say or write something as an answer to a statement, question or request

conversation – n. an informal talk involving two people or a small group of people : the act of talking in an informal way

positive – adj. showing or expressing support, approval, or agreement

negative – adj. expressing denial⁷ or refusal

comma – n. a punctuation⁸ mark used to separate words or groups of words in a sentence

match – v. to be equal to

antique – n. art, furniture or jewelry⁹ that was made at an earlier time and is often valuable

modal / modal auxiliary – n. a verb that is usually used with another verb to express ideas such as possibility, necessity, and permission

1 rebellious   

adj.造反的，反抗的，难控制的

参考例句：

• They will be in danger if they are rebellious.如果他们造反，他们就要发生危险。
• Her reply was mild enough,but her thoughts were rebellious.她的回答虽然很温和，但她的心里十分反感。

2 seemingly   

adv.从表面上看起来，似乎是

参考例句：

• Seemingly,we can do nothing to prevent this from happening.我们似乎没有什么办法阻止这件事发生。
• For several seemingly interminable seconds no one spoke.有几秒钟没有人讲话，这几秒钟似乎十分漫长。

3 auxiliary   

adj.辅助的，备用的

参考例句：

• I work in an auxiliary unit.我在一家附属单位工作。
• The hospital has an auxiliary power system in case of blackout.这家医院装有备用发电系统以防灯火管制。

4 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

5 antique   

adj.古时的，古代的；n.古物，古器，古玩

参考例句：

• The Sunday antique market is a happy hunting ground for collectors.周日的古董市场是收藏家的淘物乐园。
• I saw the vase in the window of an antique shop.我在一家古玩店的橱窗里看见了这个花瓶。

6 acceptable   

adj.可接受的，合意的，受欢迎的

参考例句：

• The terms of the contract are acceptable to us.我们认为这个合同的条件可以接受。
• Air pollution in the city had reached four times the acceptable levels.这座城市的空气污染程度曾高达可接受标准的四倍。

7 denial   

n.否认；拒绝，拒绝给予

参考例句：

• The newspaper printed a denial of the untrue story.报社刊登了否认不实消息的声明。
• Her denial of my advice hurts me.她拒绝我的忠告伤害了我。

8 punctuation   

n.标点符号，标点法

参考例句：

• My son's punctuation is terrible.我儿子的标点符号很糟糕。
• A piece of writing without any punctuation is difficult to understand.一篇没有任何标点符号的文章是很难懂的。

9 jewelry   

n.（jewllery）（总称）珠宝

参考例句：

• The burglars walked off with all my jewelry.夜盗偷走了我的全部珠宝。
• Jewelry and lace are mostly feminine belongings.珠宝和花边多数是女性用品。