NEGATION

NEGATION

Submitted by IV D (NR):

Dewiyah

In grammar, negation is the process that turns an affirmative statement (I am the chicken) into its opposite denial (I am not the chicken). The linguist Tottie (1991) refers to two types of negation, synthetic ('no', 'neither' or 'nor' negation) and analytic ('not' negation). For example, "He is neither here nor there" (synthetic) or "He is not here" (analytic). Nouns as well as verbs can be grammatically negated, by the use of a negative adjective (There is no chicken), a negative pronoun (Nobody is the chicken), or a negative adverb (I never was the chicken).

Negation is a morphosyntatic-operation in which a lexical item denies or inverts the meaning of another lexical item or construction. A negator is a lexical item that expresses negation. Example of Lexical items (English):

·         not

·         non

·         un

In English, negation for most verbs other than be and have, or verb phrases in which be, have or do already occur, requires the recasting of the sentence using the dummy auxiliary verb do, which adds little to the meaning of the negative phrase, but serves as a place to attach the negative particles not, or its contracted form -n't, to:

• I have a chicken.
• I haven't a chicken. (Rare, but it is still possible to negate have without the auxiliary do.)
• I don't have a chicken. (The most common way in contemporary English.)

In Middle English, the particle not could be attached to any verb:

• I see not the chicken.

In Modern English, these forms fell out of use, and the use of an auxiliary such as do or be is obligatory in most cases:

• I do not see the chicken.
• I am not seeing the chicken.
• I have not seen the chicken.

The verb do also follows this rule, and therefore requires a second instance of itself in order to be marked for negation:

• The chicken doesn't do tricks

not

• **The chicken doesn't tricks.

Negation in Sentence

A negative sentence (or statement) states that something is not true or incorrect. A negative adverb has to be added in order to negate or “cancel” the validity of the sentence. This “negation” element is created according to the following general rule.

            The Negation Rule: In English, in order to claim that something is not true, you form a negative sentence by adding the word not after the first auxiliary verb in the positive sentence. If there is no auxiliary verb in the positive sentence, as in the Present Simple and Past Simple tenses, then you add one (in both these cases, the auxiliary verb do).

             Review the following table for examples of negation in English. Some examples use the contracted forms more used in informal writing and speech, and some others use the full forms.

Tense	Negative Element + Contracted Forms	Examples
Present Simple	do+not = don’t does+not = doesn’t	I do not play. She doesn’t play.
Past Simple	did+not = didn’t	I didn’t play.
Present Progressive	am + not (*no amn’t) is+not = isn’t are+not = aren't	I am not playing.

·         Past Progressive:         was+not = wasn’t
                                    were+not = weren’t

·         Present Perfect:           have+not = haven’t
                                    has+not = hasn’t

·         Present Perfect Progressive:    have+not+been= haven’t been
                                                has+not+been = hasn’t been

·         Past Perfect:                            had+not= hadn’t

·         Past Perfect  Progressive:        had+not+been= hadn’t been

·         Future Simple:             will+not= won’t

·         Future Perfect:                        will+not+have= won’t have

·         Conditional:                would+not= wouldn’t

·         Conditional perfect:    would+not+have= wouldn’t have

·         Modals:                       can + not = can’t or cannot (formal)
                                    should+not = shouldn’t

In negation, do is an auxiliary verb. It is used to help make a sentence negative.

Notice that do is the conjugated verb and it is used in the present or past tense. The main verb remains in the infinitive (without to).

The negative word not is placed between the two verbs.

subject	auxiliary	negation	main verb	noun
I	do	not	like	bananas.
He	does		eat
Canada	does		grow
They	do		sell
Tom	did		buy
We	did		import

Do in the negative can be contracted. Contractions are very common in spoken and written English.

do	+ not =	don't
does		doesn't
did		didn't

With all verbs except be and modal verbs, do is required to make a negative statement.

affirmative	negative	incorrect
I want to go.	I do not want to go.	I not want to go.
He knows me.	He doesn't know me.	He not know me.
We have a car.	We do not have a car.	We not have a car.
They read books.	They don't read books.	They not read books.
Susan works here.	Susan doesn't work here.	Susan not work here.

If the sentence is in the past tense, the main verb is changed to the infinitive and the verb do is put in the past tense.

She watched TV.	She did not watch TV.
Maria liked Ted.	Maria did not like Ted.
We drank coffee.	We didn't drink coffee.
I saw the movie.	I didn't see the movie.
They smoked.	They did not smoke.

 

Negative structures

We make negative forms by putting not after an auxiliary verb.

• I do not smoke.
• He did not come.
• They are not expected to come.
• They have not been invited.
• She has not come.
• I cannot go.

Basic rules

1. Do is used if there is no other auxiliary verb. After do, we use the infinitive without to.

• Money brings you happiness. (assertive)
• Money does not bring you happiness. (negative)
• She came. (assertive)
• She did not come. (negative)

2. When be (is, am, are, was, were) is the main verb, we make negative forms by putting not after be.

• She is not ready.
• You are not late.
• I was not surprised.

3. When have is the main verb, we make negative forms by putting do not before have.

• They have a car. (assertive)
• They do not have a car. (negative)
• He has a good job. (assertive)
• He does not have a good job. (negative)

4. We use not before infinitives and -ing forms. Do is not used.

• It is important not to be late.
• The best thing about a computer

5. Besides not, there are also other words that can make a clause negative.

Compare:

• He is not at home.
• He is never at home.
• He is seldom/rarely/hardly ever at home

REFERENCE

http://www.perfectyourenglish.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/

http://www.sil.org/