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The verb "hate" sometimes is cofusing. If we form a tag question, for instance, we consider it to be negative, because it's negative semantically and that fact influences grammar. We say

He hates mushrooms, does he?

But what about agreement? If someone says

I hate mushrooms.

Should I agree "So do I. Me too"? Do we take the negative meaning into consideration or only the form?

ColleenV
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V.V.
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    I don't think the meaning is relevant here. "-I hate mushrooms. -So do I." This is okay. What else would you say? – Korvin Apr 27 '17 at 14:16
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    @user178049 I disagree. You can't reply that way to "hate". It would be applicable only if the sentence had "don't hate". – Korvin Apr 27 '17 at 14:18
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    We sometimes see learners with this question, but there is no such thing as a "grammatically negative" verb in English. The fact that hate is a a negative sentiment doesn't affect the grammar at all. – stangdon Apr 27 '17 at 15:23
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    @V.V. I disagree with your initial statement: a word's "semantic negativity" does not influence grammar. If you are seeking confirmation of your belief that someone hates mushrooms, you would ask "he hates mushrooms, doesn't he?". Only when there is a Negative-Polarity word in the question do you invert the tag question (see this answer for some information.) – Hellion Apr 27 '17 at 16:11
  • Thanks, @Hellion. Now it's clear. But you didn't include "seldom, rarely, hardly" into that list. Some grammars do. And I don't know if It's correct. – V.V. Apr 27 '17 at 17:59
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    Pretty sure it's He hates mushrooms, doesn't he? – AAM111 Apr 27 '17 at 20:21
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    @V.V. apparently I should add hardly to my list, as it is mentioned in several questions on ELU (such as here as a Negative Polarity Indicator. However, for rarely and seldom , my personal feeling is that they don't license a tag question at all: neither "He rarely goes there, doesn't he?" nor "He rarely goes there, does he?" sound correct to me. (And responding "me too" or "me neither" to "he rarely goes there" also sounds wrong.) But I don't have a source or citation for that. – Hellion Apr 27 '17 at 20:28
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    @Hellion: Polarity items are not all created equal. "Rarely" definitely meets the biggest tests for negative polarity, in that we can say things like "She rarely mentioned it to anyone" (by contrast with *"She sometimes mentioned it to anyone, but only rarely"). – ruakh Apr 27 '17 at 22:19
  • Tacking on the does or doesn't phrase at the end is not common usage, at least in the US, except for the usage in Kevin's answer. It would be more common to say, "Doesn't he rarely go there? or "Doesn't he go there rarely" or replace doesn't with does in those questions. In any of these, the question is a little ambiguous as to what you are actually asking (rarely", go?, there?). The focus on rarely could be improved with "only": "Doesn't he go there only rarely?" or "Doesn't he only rarely go there?" or the does equivalents. – fixer1234 Apr 28 '17 at 05:54

2 Answers2

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You use the form, not the negative meaning.

Me too
So do I.

Either of these would be acceptable.



Also

He hates mushrooms, doesn't he?

You would normally say this when you thought he hated mushrooms and were confirming it.

He hates mushrooms, does he?

This form would normally be used when expressing irritation or anger. For example, if you were a chef who fixed a dish that a customer had ordered that clearly contained mushrooms on the menu, only to have the waiter bring it back and tell you the customer didn't like it because he hates mushrooms, you might reply "Oh, he hates mushrooms, does he? Then the idiot shouldn't have ordered the mushroom and Swiss omelette!"

Kevin
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    Thank you, It's almost clear. Could you tell me about two more examples".I never eat mushrooms. And I rarely eat mushrooms. " Would it be "Neither do I"? – V.V. Apr 27 '17 at 18:08
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    "I never eat mushrooms" would use "Neither do I." As for "I rarely eat mushrooms" it's kind of halfway in between so neither "Neither do I" nor "So do I" really sound right. I would probably go with something like "I'm the same way" or "Same here" – Kevin Apr 27 '17 at 18:30
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    If you're not sure, don't be afraid to use a longer sentence to make your meaning clear. "I don't eat them often, either." or "I only eat them occasionally, too." – user3067860 Apr 27 '17 at 21:02
  • @ErikE not sure what you're disagreeing with. I said it didn't sound right with "Neither do I". – Kevin Apr 28 '17 at 01:39
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    @Kevin Aha! I read the "neither" / "nor" before and after ' "Neither" ', as "either" / "or". Sorry about that. – ErikE Apr 28 '17 at 01:41
  • +1, although I think that the difference between "[statement], doesn't he?" and "[statement], does he?" is a little more complex than is reflected here (I don't disagree with this use case for "...does he?", but there are others, such as expressing skepticism.) It is beyond the scope of this question, though, and would make a good question on its own. Oddly, it doesn't appear to have been asked. – Adam Apr 28 '17 at 03:57
  • In Boston you might hear the locals agreeing with So don't I. Which makes no sense. It's as if the first person said I hate mushrooms; don't you? and the second person wants to say, Yes, I don't to mean Yes, I do [too]. But that's the patois. I don't recommend it unless the interlocutor has also used it. – Matthew Leingang Apr 28 '17 at 05:54
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If it was a rhetorical question, "He hates mushrooms, does he?" semantically becomes "He hates mushrooms. He does.", making "So do I" very logical.

If it was a real question, "So do I" becomes illogical because it implies the question already having been answered positively.

rackandboneman
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