Negative Agreement — Neither Do I / I Can't Either

Negative Agreement in English: Neither Do I and I Can't Either

When agreeing with a negative statement in English, learners must choose between two structures — inversion ('Neither do I') or normal word order ('I don't either') — and select the correct auxiliary. A third option, the informal 'Me neither', is widespread in spoken English. Research on learner conversation corpora identifies three dominant error types in this area: using 'too' in negative contexts ('I can't too'), failing to invert after 'neither' ('Neither I do'), and mismatching the auxiliary ('I don't like horror films' → 'Neither can I' instead of 'Neither do I'). The 'too vs either' distinction is particularly problematic for Russian speakers, who use 'тоже' in both positive and negative contexts and often transfer this pattern directly.

Structure 1: Neither/Nor + Auxiliary + Subject (Inversion)

The inverted structure places the auxiliary before the subject. Match the auxiliary to the one in the original statement.

Structure 2: Subject + Auxiliary + Either (Normal Order)

'Either' at the end of a negative clause signals agreement without inversion.

Informal: Me Neither

'Me neither' is an informal equivalent of 'Neither do I' / 'I don't either', common in spoken English across all registers.

Common Mistakes