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GLOW: Grammar Lessons On the Web For the exclusive use of employees of the U.S. Department of State--by Tillyer Associates |
Expressing Agreement with
... too and
...so
When two sentences compare similar things, use ...too or ...so to connect them.
| France is in Europe and Sweden is too. | France is in Europe and so is Sweden. |
| I like to travel and my wife does too. | I like to travel and so does my wife. |
| I've worked at the consulate for a long time and my boss has too. | I've worked at the consulate for a long time and so has my boss. |
Note that in both forms of agreement, only the auxiliary is repeated in the second part when the main verb is not to be. When the subject of the second part of the sentence is plural, the auxiliary should indicate that.
| Japan is in Asia and China and Korea are too. | Japan is in Asia and so are China and Korea. |
| I like to travel and my son and daughter do too. | I like to travel and so do my son and daughter. |
| I've worked at the consulate for a long time and Nadia and Victor have too. | I've worked at the consulate for a long time and so have Nadia and Victor. |
It is important to remember that ...too comes after the subject in the second part of the sentence and ...so comes before the subject.
and either...neither
We express negative agreement in a similar way, using either and neither.
| Ambassador Jenkins isn't going to Washington this month and I'm not either. | Ambassador Jenkins isn't going to Washington this month and neither am I. |
| Nadia doesn't know how to use the new computer system and Victor doesn't either. | Nadia doesn't know how to use the new computer system and neither does Victor. |
| Kazuyo hasn't been to the U.S. and Mamiko hasn't either. | Kazuyo hasn't been to the U.S. and neither has Mamiko. |
Note that in the second part of the negative sentences, there is only one negative word in each case:
...and I'm not either. ...and neither am I.
Also, either always comes last in a negative agreement and neither always comes first.
...and Victor doesn't either. ...and neither does Victor.
Disagreement
To express disagreement, use but instead of and and one half of the sentence must be contrary to the other.
| France is in Europe, but Japan is in Asia. | France is in Europe, but Japan isn't. |
| I like to travel, but my brother likes to stay home. | I like to travel, but my brother doesn't. |
| I've worked at the consulate for many years, but Alex just came last month. | I've worked at the consulate for many years, but Alex hasn't. |