0

Imagine somebody asks to confirm your identity;

"Are you Mr./Ms. X?"

Do you reply with "I sure am!" or "I surely am!"?

I'm struggling to know whether to apply the adverb form here. What's the rule with adverbs and "to be"? Phrases like "I am cold" or "She is tired" seem all right, but ones like "I am good" seem more suspect.

october
  • 23
  • 1
    To me (a British English speaker), 'I sure am' sounds like American colloquial speech. 'correct' English would be 'I surely (or certainly) am'. – Kate Bunting Oct 18 '19 at 07:59
  • 1
    https://english.stackexchange.com/q/32502/14666 – Kris Oct 18 '19 at 11:31
  • @KateBunting To me, even "I surely am" is inappropriate. You'd make a definite statement, such as "I am". You don't need to deduce your name by interring anything; you know it, surely? – Rosie F Nov 19 '19 at 08:03
  • @RosieF As indicated, I meant 'surely' in the sense of 'certainly', not of expressing doubt. (Surely you must mean inferring, not interring!) – Kate Bunting Nov 20 '19 at 09:20

1 Answers1

-1

"I sure am" is more assertive. "I surely am" is like implying that "I almost certainly am, but there is a slight chance I am not." I would use it if I was in a word-playing mood.

H. sapiens rex
  • 451