I don't remember X, but I do remember Y.
(Stressing the auxiliary do)
Just a few days
ago, I was in my local music store looking at CDs. Like many other
music stores, my local store has several sets of headphones so
customers can listen to some of the new CDs. This week there was a new
CD by a singer called Katie Melua, whom I'd never heard of before. I
listened to part of her CD and, I must say, I liked it. I thought she
had a very
nice clear voice backed by soft bluesy type rhythms.
Later that evening, I did a Google search on my computer so see if I
could get some information about her. It seems that she's very young
(just 20 years old), lives in Britain, but was born in the East
European Republic of
Georgia （グルジヤ in Japanese). Here's a short extract from her
website:
I was born in
Georgia in the former USSR ... in 1984,
living in Moscow for a while when I was three or four. Not surprisingly
I don't remember a lot of Moscow back in the communist time, although
one thing I do remember is that the place we were staying in did the
most amazing pancakes I've ever tasted.
(From Katie Melua's
Official Website)
Why did I find this short extract so interesting? Please read the next
section.
...although one thing I do remember is...
One thing that caught my eye
as I read Katie's website was something that I had been teaching my
students a couple of days earlier. Do you notice a special way that
Katie uses the word do, in
the extract?
- I don't remember a lot about Moscow back
in the communist time, although one thing I do
remember...
Of course, Katie could have left out do and simply
said:
- I don't remember a lot about Moscow back
in the communist time, although one thing I remember...
However, the use of do, gives a special emphasis （強調） to what she is
saying. If she were speaking the words, she would show this in her
voice by saying "do" much more strongly than the other words in that
part of the sentence: ...although
one thing I DO
remember.
Some more examples of the stressed do
This pattern of I don't..., but I
DO... is quite common in English. The
use of "but I do..." in the second clause, tells the listener that the
negative part of the statement (I
don't) is not
100% true. When Katie Melua says: ...but one thing I
do remember is..., she means something like this: "I don't
remember much, but there is (at least) one thing that I remember."
Similarly, if I say:
- I don't normally like sweet
things, but I DO enjoy a
nice piece of cheesecake from time to time.
I mean, "Although I don't
normally like sweet things, but there is (at least)
one sweet thing that I like."
Here's another example of
the stressed do. It's taken
from an email I sent to a friend last month:
- Thanks for the birthday card. I didn't
celebrate much on the day, but I did go out for a nice meal with Ari on
Saturday night.
Exercise
Here
are a few sentences in which people talk about things they don't like
or don't do. Try to finish them with a suitable stressed do clause.
- I
don't watch many TV drama programmes, but I do _____________.
- I
don't remember much about my primary school days, but I do _________.
- I
hardly ever go jogging, but I do ____________________.
- I'm
not very fond of Chinese food, but ___________________
- I
don't normally like Sanma Akashiya (Japanese television comedy), but
__________.
When you've finished the exercise, click here for some suggested
answers.
Please click on the link below if you want
to try some
of my other one-point lessons:
Bob's One-Point Lesson Archive
©
Robert E. Jones, 2005
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