American English question

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rickydixtor

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First I'm sorry to disturb, but I am a writer in my language and in need of a native American-English Speaker, so I thought it's good to register here.
It's about the following conversation:

Bryan: But they are not the same then.
Cathy: No they aren´t.

The "no" confuses me. So I ask myself what Cathy want's to say with her answer:
a) That's wrong. In my opinion they are the same.
b) I agree, They are not the same.
 
Im just a silent reader here, so I thought its good to ask it here as there are native speaker :)

uhm yes i read it that way, but it doesnt help me that much, I have a feeling it relates more to b) from my examples, but what do native speaker think?
 
I remember something about this from grade school and I don't remember what the teacher said.
but this is how I would read it.
Bryan asked a question. But they are not the same then.
Cathy's answer was no could mean, you are wrong or it could mean they are not the same
So to make it clear she added just enough, for Bryan to understand what the no meant
 
I remember something about this from grade school and I don't remember what the teacher said.
but this is how I would read it.
Bryan asked a question. But they are not the same then.
Cathy's answer was no could mean, you are wrong or it could mean they are not the same
So to make it clear she added just enough, for Bryan to understand what the no meant
So in fact she agrees with Bryan that they are not the same, like my example b) right?
 
Yes! Your answer about No: is correct.

Can I ask what country are you from? No.
 
She could have said, Yes, they are not the same Or Yes you are correct
But in fact she said "No they aren't" which is short for "No, they aren't the same" and this is correct american english, right?

Then thank you for your help in advance :)
 
In Vancouver you could find people with maybe 30 different first languages, all trying to deal with the little details of english and we often get questions like this.
 
Every group that come to english changes the language a little.
There was a TV show about that a few years ago.
 
I got a language instruction from a cab driver in Chennai, India and learned that the world is really very small.

I got and said hello.

He said "You must be from North America. Do you want me to address you in British English or American, which would be your native tongue. If American, is it East coast American, Maine American, Southern American, Texas American, Midwestern American, Down East American or Boston American?"

He was filling in for his son that was on vacation to some Pacific island and he was a retired doctor that practiced in the U.S. for 20 years.

Dick
 

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