Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[kerstin]

I can easily get people to like me *or* hate me.

Should that be or or and?


Thanks!

[redset]

It depends on what you mean: with 'or' it means that some people like me and the other people hate me; with 'and' it could possibly mean the same, but it would sound like each person likes and hates me.

It makes more sense with 'or' because it seems like a contradiction - if you can easily get some people to like you then you must be a likeable person, but if you can easily get other people to hate you then you don't sound very likeable!

[missdaredevil]

Can that mean she's very good at dealing with people? I mean having the ability to get people to like her and have the option of getting people to not like her.

[redset]

Well it could mean that, if she's choosing which people like her and which people hate her It could mean that people have extreme reactions to her - people usually either like her or hate her, with few people who don't feel strongly either way. If she doesn't want anyone to hate her, that would be a problem. You can't really tell either way just from that one sentence.