2

I'm curious about the difference between "I do know" and "I know".

I am an almost newbie at electronics but I do know a few things

Here the OP has used "I do know". Why?

Improve this question
3
  • 2
    It's called "emphatic do". Possible duplicate ell.stackexchange.com/q/10211/2818.
    – None
    Aug 17, 2014 at 13:23
  • But in your quote it might not be meant as such, I clicked on the link and OP might have not wanted it, "I" being written "i" instead of "I" OP might be a non native having made a mistake.
    – None
    Aug 17, 2014 at 13:25
  • @Laure I think OP in that question is just following the conventions of textspeak.
    – StoneyB on hiatus
    Aug 17, 2014 at 14:01

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
4

Simply put, "I DO know this" is used to emphasize that you know the thing you're talking about, whether or not you know anything else.

Look at the OP's entire sentence:

I am an almost newbie at electronics but i do know a few things

Here OP says that even though he is new to electronics, but he still knows a few things. Therefore, "I DO know" is used to emphasize the point that he "does know" a few things, in spite of him being an amateur.

On the other hand, "I know" is just a simple expression stating you know something. It doesn't talk about something which you might not know.

Suggest to take a look at this question. The answer explains the phrase "as far as I know" (among other things), and uses this sentence:

Similarly, as far as I know means to the extent that my knowledge reaches—that is, “I do not claim to know everything about this topic, but what I do know is this ...”

See here how "I do know" is used to imply that you do not know everything about the topic, but you something, and that something is...

Improve this answer
0

DO is possible to use for express emphasis.

That means that while this simple sentence is correct:

I like music. you can also add emphasis to the sentence using DO and say it like this:

I do like music. In this way, you can use DO, DOES and DID to emphasize other verbs in the present simple and past simple forms. However, you can’t do the same thing with other tenses because there is already another auxiliary verb used (for example HAS, WERE, AM etc.), which can’t be combined with DO or DOES.

more detais: https://en.learniv.com/info/en/irregular-verbs/do-vs-does-the-difference-between-do-and-does/

Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .