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Compa14 Posted 14 years ago
Grammar

certainly,definitely and surely

I have a sentence[.......] you aren't suggesting that what he did was any way defensible(A.certainly, B. surely,C.definitely) I think that A,B and C have the same meaning but the key i was recieved was A. I don't know why and how to distinguish them. So could you help me to tell the difference among them? Thank you very much
  

Top answer

The answer key was "Certainly"? " to mean "You have got to be kidding! "

— BarbaraPA

  • The answer key was "Certainly"?
  • " to mean "You have got to be kidding!
  • "
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14 Answers
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The answer key was "Certainly"? It should have been "Surely" (at least, in American English, it would be "surely.")

In fact, "Surely, you..." to mean "You have got to be kidding! You are crazy if you think..." has become a cliche because of a movie where the person misheard it as "Shirley."
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'Surely' does not work in British English in this situation, though 'sure' is possible informally. 'Definitely' and 'certainly' are both possible.

[Wrtten later: This answer is incorrect (see my last post, below). Please ignore it.]

Note that it's the 'difference between' any number of things.
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So in the movie "Airplane" that whole "And stop calling me Shirley" isn't as funny to you, is it.
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Grammar GeekSo in the movie "Airplane" that whole "And stop calling me Shirley" isn't as funny to you, is it.
Yes it is. We use it in that sense, not normally in the 'definitely' sense.
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To express incredulity that the person would say something like that? I thought that's what the original sentence was.

Surely you aren't suggesting...

Did I read it wrong?
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You are right. I completely misread the whole thing. My apologies for any confusion caused. I have now added a note to my original post.
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Whew. So we agree that it should be "Surely" in that sentence?
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Grammar GeekWhew. So we agree that it should be "Surely" in that sentence?
Yes

(I was going to write 'Definitely', but thought that might not be wise.)
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Either certainly or surely can be used in the sentence. If your source says only one is acceptable, then you need a new source.
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Aspara GusEither certainly or surely can be used in the sentence. If your source says only one is acceptable, then you need a new source.
Now that I have corrected my original misreading, I think that 'certainly' is most unlikely here.
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