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Anonymous Posted 13 years ago
Grammar

Use of "even".

What function and/or meaning does "even" have here?

"Cannelloni? I don’t know what that even is."
  

Top answer

Its a way to show others that our level of familiarity or knowledge about subject or object is lower than what they expect. "

  • Its a way to show others that our level of familiarity or knowledge about subject or object is lower than what they expect.
  • "
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10 Answers
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Its a way to show others that our level of familiarity or knowledge about subject or object is lower than what they expect.
For example, your friend think you know how to drive a car so she say :
"please drive me home, i am drunk, i can't drive."
Then you say :
"I don't even know how to start a car."
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MIGIts a way to show others that our level of familiarity or knowledge about subject or object is lower than what they expect.For example , your friend think you know how to drive a car so she say :"please drive me home , i am drunk i can't drive"then you say:"i don't even know how to start a car"
Please note that the word "I" should be capitalised.

A
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Thanks.
Done. Emotion: phew

Is it OK now?
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MIGIs it OK now?
If you intended to correct your earlier post then you missed a couple.
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Hi. I understand the usage in "I don't even know how to start a car.", but in my example, the "even" is placed later in the sentence.
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In this kind of usage, "even" stresses the word or phrase that follows. Sometimes altering the position of "even" may alter the meaning in a significant way, but in your example it doesn't: "I don’t know what that even is" and "I don’t even know what that is" have essentially the same meaning, just with a slightly different emphasis.
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Thank you GPY.
Could you please tell me that to which part of speech "even" belong.
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In this meaning it is an adverb. In other meanings it can also be an adjective or verb; see http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/even

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