What's the difference between these two?
- "He is not obviously guilty."
- "He is obviously not guilty."
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Sign up to join this communityWhat's the difference between these two?
- "He is not obviously guilty."
- "He is obviously not guilty."
The first sentence, "He is not obviously guilty", is saying that the fact that he is guilty is not obvious. In this case, "obviously" is an adjective modifying "guilty". "Not" negates the phrase "obviously guilty".
The second sentence, "He is obviously not guilty", is saying that it is obvious that he is not guilty. In this case, the "not" is only negating "guilty". Since "obviously" comes before, it modifies the negation of "guilty".