Helping Students Agree Correctly with "Me Too" and "Neither Do I"

Many English learners will probably know that "Me too" is a simple and easy way to agree with someone. However, they may not realize that it's only correct in certain situations. In fact, even intermediate students with otherwise strong grammar may be tripped up by this easy mistake.

So it is important that they learn that the correct way to agree depends on what their conversation partner has said. In addition to that, it's always useful to learn more than one way of expressing an idea in order to keep conversations both in and out of lessons more interesting and dynamic.

This article will break down some ways to explain how to quickly and easily agree in two major ways.

Agreeing with positive statements

There are two ways to quickly respond to positive statements that you agree with. The first way, which we've mentioned above, is quite simple: "Me too.”

The other way of agreeing uses “So,” but the following verb will change depending on what your conversation partner has said. When responding to statements using "be," "can" or "have," the same verb must be used.

For other verbs, you can simply use “do.”

Students should know that one big exception to the rules above is for talking about loving another person.

If someone says that they love pizza, responding with "Me too" or "So do I" is correct. However, if someone says "I love you," those same responses would sound quite arrogant!

Students wanting to express their mutual love for their partner would of course say, "I love you too."

Agreeing with negative statements

Learners often overlook the fact that agreeing with negative statements isn't exactly the same as agreeing with positive ones. For example, if you said that you don't like sushi, they may reply with "Me too," unaware that this grammar is incorrect.

Instead, they will need to use “neither.” The simplest way to use it is the phrase “Me neither.”

Here are a few examples:

The other way is to say "Neither … I." The same rule for matching verbs applies here as well.

Try devoting some of the lesson time to practicing agreeing with both positive and negative statements. When drilling them, be sure to mix up your prompts so students must actively listen in order to respond correctly. Ask them to vary their responses, using the "Me too," "So~" and "Neither~" methods so they can get comfortable using them all.

Wrap-up

Students may get too comfortable relying on “Me too.” Though it's a very useful phrase, it's not a one-size-fits-all response many think it to be. 

Explain to them that the most important thing to keep in mind is whether or not the statement they are responding to is positive or negative. They may struggle at first, but after a little practice, it should become second nature to them.

This article only covers the very basics of these forms, but there is more to learn. Once they've mastered this, consider sharing a link to this article for even more detailed information on other ways to use “too” and “neither.”