Negation is the process that turns an affirmative statement (e.g. "I am American") into its opposite denial (e.g. "I am not American").
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Use of ‘or’ when it means ‘and’ in negatives [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
How does negation affect the use and understanding of “or” and “and”
If I want to negate a sentence such as
I like beer and whiskey. [Most ...
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2answers
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What exactly is meant by “This is not to say it's not a bad system”?
Someone on a forum wrote
This is not to say it's not a bad system.
With some context,
This is not a component system. This is not to say it's not a bad system, but in this case you should be ...
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2answers
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“can't see neither A nor B” or “can see neither A nor B” [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Still confused with “neither…nor…”
...can't see neither A nor B.
Is that grammatically correct?
Or is this?
...can see neither A nor ...
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4answers
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“Uncapable” or “incapable”?
In Microsoft Word, uncapable is marked as wrong. It sounded pretty alright to me, thus, I checked it up on the Web and found that many dictionaries do not have "uncapable" in their entries, but ...
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1answer
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Meaning of 'no earlier than X days after Y'
I am having trouble understanding the following notice on the American Airlines AAdvantage (miles account) website:
Note: Mileage credit requests can be submitted no earlier than 15 days
after ...
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2answers
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Can there be a hyphen in “nonlinear”?
As the title says, I'm wondering if "non-linear" is an acceptable spelling of the word "nonlinear."
A bit of research on this site turns up Is the use of a hyphen between "non" and an ...
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6answers
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What is the correct way to use “neither” and “nor” in a sentence together?
Given these facts:
The tool cannot be found in the kitchen.
The tool cannot be found in the bathroom.
Which is the correct sentence to represent the situation above?
I can find the tool ...
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3answers
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“Can hardly wait” versus “can't hardly wait”
This has been bothering me for a while and I'm finally at a forum where I feel like I might get an answer. I have heard people say "I can hardly wait for summer to get here" and I've also heard "I ...
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4answers
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How to answer a negative question without ambiguity?
I faced a problem to answer a negative question, for example When someone ask you:
Don't you have any money?
It's a yes/no question but how should one answer the question without ambiguity?
...
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5answers
231 views
“Unstar as interesting”
If I starred something as interesting, would I unstar it as interesting or as uninteresting?
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2answers
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Is the use of a hyphen between “non” and an adjective strictly necessary?
Do I need to put a "-" between "non" and an adjective? As an example in physics we say "a non isolated photon", "non tight photon"... The context is very formal (paper publications and similar). Is ...
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2answers
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How does negation affect the use and understanding of “or” and “and”
I'm trying to make more sense of how negation effects how a sentence is parsed and understood if and's and or's are used within them.
Pop quiz: You are trapped on a bus with a bomb going 50 MPH. You ...
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Why is “insatiable” pronounced as if it was “unsatiable”? [closed]
Why is insatiable pronounced as if it was unsatiable?
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5answers
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How to ask a question to confirm a negative situation?
For example, I want to make sure that Tom was not in Professor X's class. However, I can't ask:
Wasn't Tom in Professor X's class last semester?
Because that means I think Tom WAS in Professor ...
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2answers
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“Like” versus “not unlike”
Just out of curiousity, how did this double negative come to be?
When I use it, it's often because I want to emphasise the fact that x is not y but is still similar in some way, whereas "like" ...
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4answers
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Are “not uncommon” and similar phrases double negatives? Should their use be avoided?
When I think of double negatives I think of phrases that grate on the ears, like:
I'm not going to do no homework.
I'm never going to not go visit Graceland.
There are some phrases that ...
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6answers
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“won't” vs. “wouldn't”
Are these two words interchangeable? How do you know when to use one or the other?
For some sentences it is easy to know which one to use, but not for others. The type of sentences that are difficult ...
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3answers
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Use “or” or “nor”?
I've always wondered this but never asked. Given this statement:
Energy can be neither created nor destroyed.
Should it be or or nor? This is on Wikipedia so they are probably correct in saying ...
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3answers
156 views
Parenthetical double negation?
Is this a double negation? Is it still grammatically correct? If not, what is a better form?
He cannot go outside (legally, not physically), because he is under house arrest.
The meaning is that ...
12
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8answers
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The grammaticality of “that don't impress me much”
I'd like to know how the sentence "That don't impress me much" sounds to a native English speaker.
The phrase is the title of a song by Shania Twain, and to my eyes it contains a clear error. It is ...
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3answers
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“Why do not you come here?” vs “Why do you not come here?”
I have two questions.
What is the difference between "Why do not you come here?" and "Why do you not come here?"?
Are both of "Why do not you come here?" and "Why do you not come here?" ...
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2answers
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'Irrealistic' or 'unrealistic'?
I basically learnt that words that start with a 'm' or 'p' get 'im' as a negative prefix, whilst words starting with 'r' get 'ir' in such a case (irreverent, irrelevant).
However, I stumbled upon ...
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7answers
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Is my worst enemy my best friend (interpreting negative adjectives applied to negative nouns)?
"The worst student" is the student who is bad at things. In this case, "worst" simply describes the noun.
Following this logic, your "worst enemy" would be the person who is very bad at being your ...
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3answers
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“No kidding” and “not kidding”
What is the difference between not kidding and no kidding?
Is no kidding valid English?
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2answers
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What are the meanings of the sentences where “Not that” is followed by an object-missing expression?
According to my observation, there are at least two types of using "Not that....". And my question is: what does "not that" mean in its second type of usage?
In the first usage, "not that" is ...
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4answers
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“Everybody is not” vs “Not everybody is”
Everybody's got a water buffalo, yours is fast but mine is slow.
You can't say everybody's got a water buffalo! Everyone does not have a water buffalo!
This construction:
Everyone ...
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4answers
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Isn't the word “uninstall” wrong?
I've never understood this. Why is the proper usage "uninstall"? You can't actually "unin" something at all and this isn't that case with most (all?) other use cases. Examples:
You make someone ...
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4answers
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“It isn't” vs. “it's not”
Is one stronger than the other? More correct? Just curious, one of the many abstract things to pop into my head on the drive home today...
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1answer
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“They're not” vs. “they aren't”
How dissimilar are "they're not" and "they aren't"?
Is it dependent on context or are these exactly the same?
They are supposed to be going, but they are not.
They are not going.
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5answers
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Is this usage of “aren't” proper English?
Aren't you going to go outside?
My wife insists this is improper English, Hillbilly speak, she calls it. The proper way to ask, she says, is Are you going to go outside?
I say it's the same as ...
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5answers
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“That my results are not reproducible” or “that my results are unreproducible”?
What is better to write?
that my results are not reproducible
that my results are unreproducible
How can it be re-written as positive affirmation (preserving the same meaning)?
Edit:
Do ...
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6answers
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Should “anymore” only be used in a negative statement or question?
I don't know why this is so, but I've always believed that the word anymore should only be used in a question or negative statement.
Do you go there anymore?
Don't do that anymore.
But I often ...
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2answers
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Usage of “neither… nor” versus “not … or”
First, this is not a dupe of:
"Not bad either" versus "not bad neither"
nor a dupe of:
"Neither Michael nor Albert is correct" or "Neither Michael nor Albert are ...
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3answers
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When a negative question is asked, what is the grammatically correct way to answer? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
How to answer a negative question without ambiguity?
Response to “Would you not do it?”
When a negative question is asked, what is the grammatically correct way to ...
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4answers
506 views
“There is no rule” vs. “there isn't rule”
What are the differences between the two sentences below:
There is no rule.
There isn't rule.
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1answer
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The construction of “Known but to God”
The Tomb of the Unknown Solider has the engraving "KNOWN BUT TO GOD", as presumably no man knows his name, but shouldn't it read "unknown, but to God", as the default for everyone is "unknown", with ...
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5answers
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What's the negation of “I used to be”? Surely not “I didn't used to be”?
What is the negative form of "I used to be"? I often hear "I didn't used to be" but that sounds awfully wrong in my ears.
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1answer
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“Do you not” vs. “Don't you”
I live in the UK and I mostly hear people saying Don't you..., but some people say: Do you not...? What is the difference and which one is more correct?
You can put any example really. Something ...
6
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1answer
315 views
Who inflects “innit”?
I'm quite surprised there doesn't seem to be a question about this yet. Depending on where you hail from, you've probably heard the word innit, an abbreviation of isn't it or ain't it. You may also ...
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5answers
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Is “it is no calculus” correct grammar?
I often hear people saying, it's no big deal, or I am no […], etc.
I was wondering if it is acceptable to say it is no calculus in a college essay.
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The word 'not' often doesn't mean total negation in mathematical sense?
Consider the following conversations:
X1: I paid $10 for that hamburger.
Y1: That's not cheap!
X2: I pay $1 for broadband Internet access.
Y2: That's cheap!
X3: I paid $1 for a hot ...
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4answers
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English questions and negation with *do* in syntax
A former lecturer of mine once explained why, from a syntactic point of view, the English rule that negation and questions are formed with the auxiliary do follows from other syntactic facts about ...
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4answers
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Is “incomplex” a legitimate word?
I want to create a poster titled "An Incomplex Introduction to Complexity-based Cryptography." As you see, it contrasts the words incomplex and complexity. (Words like simple or easy do not provide ...
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1answer
390 views
Place of “not” in sentence
In The Island of Doctor Moreau they chant: "are we not men". So my question is: when we place not before men, not after are, what we are implementing?
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4answers
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“All is not lost” vs “Not all is lost”
I guess I've been in mathematics for far too long, and I tend to use the phrase "Not all is lost" as the negative of "All is lost".
To me the phrase "All is not lost" suggests that nothing is lost. ...
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3answers
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“currently not” or “not currently”
What's the correct order:
Lessons are not currently being offered.
or
Lessons are currently not being offered.
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2answers
308 views
Answering questions with a negation at the end
How are you supposed to answer a question like this (assuming you're from Minnesota)?
You are a Minnesotan, no?
Are you supposed to give the same answer as your answer to this question or give ...
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1answer
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Is “Stick no bills” correct English?
'Stick no bills' sounds awkward.
Shouldn't it be something like 'Do not stick any bills'?
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1answer
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Why is “will not” contracted as “won't”? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
What is “won't” a contraction of?
The Why is "cannot" spelled as one word? post brought back another oddity I noticed when learning English. The ...
63
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4answers
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Why is “cannot” spelled as one word?
Why is “cannot” spelled as one word whereas other similar constructions such as “do not,” “will not,” “shall not,” “may not” and “must not” are spelled as two words (unless they are contracted as ...
