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Thread: Please help me to choose the right answer

  1. #1
    sondra is offline Member
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    Default Please help me to choose the right answer

    Hello,

    What is a correct reply to the following question;
    "Does everyone speak French as good as you do?"
    "Of course no."( or of course not?)

    Or in this question;
    "Are you disappointed?"
    "Of course not/no."

    Thanks

  2. #2
    billmcd is offline Key Member
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    Default Re: Please help me to choose the right answer

    Quote Originally Posted by sondra View Post
    Hello,

    What is a correct reply to the following question;
    "Does everyone speak French as good well as you do?"
    "Of course no."( or of course not?) "not"

    Or in this question;
    "Are you disappointed?"
    "Of course not/no." "not"

    Thanks
    b.
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  3. #3
    emsr2d2 is online now VIP Member
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    Default Re: Please help me to choose the right answer

    Quote Originally Posted by sondra View Post
    Hello,

    What is a correct reply to the following question;
    "Does everyone speak French as good as you do?"
    "Of course no."( or of course not?)

    Or in this question;
    "Are you disappointed?"
    "Of course not/no."

    Thanks
    My first point is that question 1 is incorrectly worded. It should say "Does everyone speak French as well as you [do]?"

    We don't just give you the answers here, so think about this. Instead of saying "Of course no" or "Of course not", imagine that you had to give a complete answer.

    Take question 2 for the example.

    Q: Are you disappointed?
    A: No. Of course I am _____ disappointed.

    What would you put in that space? The word "no" or the word "not"? That should give you a clue as to what the correct shorter answer should be.

  4. #4
    sondra is offline Member
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    Default Re: Please help me to choose the right answer

    Fortunately, there are people who just give good answers and I am very grateful to them. Of course I would use 'not', and I thought about this example, but since I am not a native speaker I always need to know that my sentences are 100% correct. I usually ask questions when I can't decide myself whether a statement is right or not. So I am afraid your advice doesn't apply to me.

    Thanks

  5. #5
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    Default Re: Please help me to choose the right answer

    Quote Originally Posted by sondra View Post
    Fortunately, there are people who just give good answers and I am very grateful to them. Of course I would use 'not', and I thought about this example, but since I am not a native speaker I always need to know that my sentences are 100% correct. I usually ask questions when I can't decide myself whether a statement is right or not. So I am afraid your advice doesn't apply to me.

    Thanks
    English teachers do not exist to "just give good answers" to a learner's questions.
    emsr2d2, 5jj, waflob and 1 others like this.

  6. #6
    emsr2d2 is online now VIP Member
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    Default Re: Please help me to choose the right answer

    Quote Originally Posted by sondra View Post
    Fortunately, there are people who just give good answers and I am very grateful to them. Of course I would use 'not', and I thought about this example, but since I am not a native speaker I always need to know that my sentences are 100% correct. I usually ask questions when I can't decide myself whether a statement is right or not. So I am afraid your advice doesn't apply to me.

    Thanks
    If, as you say, you would use "not" then you could have phrased your question differently. If you had said "I think the correct answer is "not" in both my examples", I would have readily confirmed that you were correct. However, you asked what the correct answer was and gave no indication that you were already fairly sure of the answer. My advice to try and work out the answer first will always be my first response to such a question.

  7. #7
    sondra is offline Member
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    Default Re: Please help me to choose the right answer

    I am not going to waste my time by going into further details. I will just ask British English speakers not to bother to answer my posts, for I am interested in American English only.

  8. #8
    emsr2d2 is online now VIP Member
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    Default Re: Please help me to choose the right answer

    Quote Originally Posted by sondra View Post
    I am not going to waste my time by going into further details. I will just ask British English speakers not to bother to answer my posts, for I am interested in American English only.
    Goodness me! Mountain? Molehill?
    bhaisahab and 5jj like this.

  9. #9
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    Default Re: Please help me to choose the right answer

    Before this descends into a incredibly rude free-for-all (and having just deleted my own incredibly rude statement), I will close this thread.

    I STRONGLY suggest that anyone seeking the good will of those who freely give of their time and attention to use an approach that is entirely different than the one shown here.
    Tdol, bhaisahab, emsr2d2 and 1 others like this.
    I'm not a teacher, but I write for a living. Please don't ask me about 2nd conditionals, but I'm a safe bet for what reads well in (American) English.

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