Cultural Note. The simplest way to express agreement with a statement is:

The simplest way to express agreement with a statement is:

Yes; Sure; O.K.; All right; No problem; Of course; Certainly; With pleasure, etc. Yes, it is / does / can, etc. Yes, he / she is /does, can

To agree with a negative statement they say:

No, it isn’t / doesn’t / can’t, etc.

The phrase Yes, of course. But…, is used in discussion and arguments. To make an agreement more friendly, a question tag may be added. Certainly may be included for emphasis.

e.g. A. – We’re very busy at the moment.

B. – (Yes,) we certainly are.

Other ways of expressing agreement are:

I (quite) agree (with you).I think so too. That’s true.

You’re (absolutely) right. You can say that again. That’s for sure.

Yeah, that’s right. ( less formal) Exactly so. Quite so. (formal)

Partial agreement may be expressed by the following phrases:

up to a point

I agree with you in a sense (but…)

in a way

I see what you mean, but…That may be true, but (on the other hand)…

Americans try to avoid dogmatic phrases and expressions of disagreement. Disagreement sounds less formal between friends and the form of it depends on the social status of a person. Disagreeing may be expressed in the following way: No way! Not on your life! Not in a million years! If a person can’t do what he /she is requested it’s better to say:

I am afraid I am not up to it /that.

( Note: «Ни в коем случае!» - No way или Out of question.