Is without a negative word

Regular Negatives

Before getting into broad and implied negatives, it’s worth revising what regular negatives look like in English. If you’re already very familiar with these, you can skip this section.

The typical way we form negatives in English is to add not after the first verb in a verb phrase; either the main verb or an auxiliary.

• I am going to the party. -> I am not going to the party.
• She has eaten all the cake. -> She has not eaten all the cake.

This basic rule applies to most sentences types, with or without contractions, except with questions without contractions, where the subject comes between the verb and not.

• Did you not want milk in your tea? (But: Didn’t you want milk in your tea?)

It’s also possible to form negatives with never, which comes before the main verb (or after an auxiliary verb, depending on regional variations).

• Frank never washes his car.
• The school had never been closed for summer. / The school never had been closed for summer.

Negatives can also be demonstrated with noun phrases, where we use no, nothing and none of to create a negative noun, instead of changing the verb. The purpose is to show the noun is absent, rather than that a verb is incomplete or untrue, though in some cases this will have almost the same effect.

• We saw no cats in the garden.
• No one locked the door.
• There is nothing in the cellar.
• You answered none of the questions correctly.

We can also use neither / nor to show a negative meaning with two different nouns.

• Neither Peter nor Paul came to the meeting.

Finally, we can form negative ideas with negative adverb phrases, which usually relate more to objects and complements than the subject and verb, or adjectives which indicate negative attitudes or when something is not possible.

• They went on holiday without her.
• The exam was impossible to complete in time.
• That man is unkind.

Broad or Semi-Negatives

The negatives above are made clear by words with specifically negative meanings. However, we can also have broad negatives, also called near negatives or semi-negatives, which are not technically negative, but create something close to a negative meaning. These are usually created with adverbs such as barely, rarely, scarcely, hardly and seldom, or with quantifier like little and few.

These have more nuanced meanings than regular negatives, as they may concern something that is done, possible or present, but emphasise it is unlikely, uncommon or inadequate. The end result is that the sentence is negative in weight.

• He hardly ever washes his car. = Almost never.
• She rarely goes to the opera. = She mostly does not.
• There are very few chocolates left in the box. = Almost none.

Note, as in these examples, a stronger negative can be created with modifiers like ever and very.

In some cases, broad negatives may be used to create a negative meaning without wanting to be direct, particularly in formal language. There is nuance to this, but it’s worth being aware that in general such phrasing demonstrate a negative perspective.

• They could hardly be expected to complete the work by Friday. = They did not believe they should be expected to do it / did not consider it possible.
• Is Lucy coming? She rarely makes it to our meeting. = We do not expect her to come / it would be surprising if she came.

Watch out, too, with broad negative quantifiers, as these are quite similar to their positive counterparts: a little or a few are positive, while little or few are negative.

• I would like a little more salt. = positive
• There is little salt left. = negative

I’ve covered this topic in more detail in the article on few vs a few.

Broad Negatives and Inversion

As with some regular negatives, broad negatives can be used to invert sentences, where we switch the position of the subject with the negative. (As such, this only applies to negative words and phrases that do not already refer to the subject.)

• I have never seen so many people on the pier. -> Never have I seen so many people on the pier.
• The girl had scarcely touched the bed when she fell asleep. -> Scarcely had the girl touched the bed when she fell asleep.

This inversion sounds formal, and is more common in formal writing than in spoken English (and even then, you may find it’s rarer in more modern usage).

Implied Negatives

It is also possible in English to have sentences that imply a negative meaning without explicitly negative or broad negative words. One way to do this may be through employing sarcasm, where we present a positive statement but context or tone make its opposite meaning/intention clear.

• You know I hate Bob. Certainly, invite him to dinner. = Really, do not invite him.

Sarcasm often uses more exaggerated positives, so even without other context very extreme positives may be an indicator of a negative intentions.

• “Oh yes, I’d absolutely love peas for dinner – that would be so amazing, I’ve dreamed of having peas for dinner all my life.”

Though this still depends on tone of voice or our understanding of the speaker; it may merely be an extreme positive position!

Implied negatives are also possible in certain specific grammatical structures and idiomatic phrases. My reader identified one particular construction that is quite common: where we use the present perfect tense to be with the adverb since to signal that something has not been done:

• It has been two years since I visited Bristol. = I have not visited Bristol for two years.

Since is usually used with the perfect tenses to mean something has been true from one time to another, usually until the present, e.g. I have lived here since 1995. However, when this meaning of since is combined with a verb, the completion of that verb indicates the start of the time period. Therefore the verb could not be complete/true again (or ongoing) since that time.

• It has been two years since I visited Bristol. = I have not visited Bristol since two years ago.

This is a very specific example of how negatives can be implied in idiomatic ways in English; there are likely more that I’d be happy to add or explore if you wish to share thoughts in the comments below.

Double Negatives

In English, if you combine negatives we get double negatives, where two negatives can create a positive meaning:

• I didn’t do nothing. -> I did something.
• No one didn’t see it. -> Everyone saw it.

This isn’t strictly recognised, as some speakers employ double negatives for emphasis, but grammatically speaking when negatives are combined, each additional negative reverses the meaning.

The same applies to broad negatives: it would be unnatural to use them with negative pronouns, for example.

• Hardly anyone came to the party. NOT Hardly no one came to the party.

Likewise, the present perfect + since + action implied negative would create a double negative with negative pronouns, so can be seen to perform grammatically like a broad negative.

• It’s been a month since anyone washed the dishes. NOT It’s been a month since no one washed the dishes.

The preposition without means ‘not having something’ or ‘lacking something’:

I can’t drink tea without milk.

I found myself in a strange country, without money and with no one to turn to.

When without is followed by a singular countable noun, we use a/an:

Don’t go out without a hat. It’s very cold.

Not: Don’t go without hat.

Without + —ing form can also mean ‘if someone does not do something’:

I couldn’t get the picture out of the frame without breaking the glass. (if I did not break the glass)

Typical errors

• We don’t omit the indefinite article a/an after without + singular countable noun:

How can you live without a telephone nowadays?

Not: … without telephone …

• We don’t use without to mean ‘apart from’ or ‘in addition to’:

Apart from my mother tongue, I can speak two other languages.

Not: Without my mother-tongue …

• Without has a negative meaning. We don’t use another negative word immediately after it:

The flight was delayed and we had to wait for five hours without anything to eat or drink.

Not: … without nothing to eat or drink.

1. Write the opposite of the adjectives by adding a negative prefix: dis-, il-, in- or un-.

1   satisfied …………………….

2   tidy …………………….

3   correct …………………….

4   legible …………………….

5   visible …………………….

6   kind …………………….

7   believable …………………….

8   polite …………………….

Answer

1 dissatisfied   2 untidy   3 incorrect   4 illegible

5 invisible   6 unkind   7 unbelievable   8 impolite

2. Complete the text about illegal downloads. Use the adjectives in brackets with or without a negative prefix.

In the USA, around 200 million 1 illegal (legal) music downloads take place every year, in spite of laws to stop them. In the UK, the figure is about 100 million – the second highest in the world. The music industry complains that these downloads are 2………………….. (fair) to artists because they stop them earning money from their work. It is 3………………….. (possible) to know exactly how much money artists and record companies are losing because many people who download illegally do not have any money to spend. However, one thing is 4………………….. (certain): overall, the industry is earning a lot less than it earned a few years ago.

Record companies pay for adverts telling people that downloading music without paying is as 5………………….. (acceptable) and 6………………….. (honest) as stealing from a shop. If you’re a 7………………….. (loyal) fan, they suggest you buy a 8………………….. (legal) version of song or album from iTunes or another website. But the adverts are 9………………….. (likely) to work because people see the music industry as rich and powerful compared to them. Most do not see sharing music online as 10………………….. (responsible).

In fact, the number of illegal downloads is now going down, but that’s not because of the warnings. For people who are 11………………….. (patient) to hear the latest tracks, streaming services like Spotify now offer a simple and 12………………….. (safe) way to enjoy them without the need for downloads at all.

Answer

2 unfair   3 impossible   4 certain   5 unacceptable

6 dishonest   7 loyal   8 legal   9 unlikely

10 irresponsible   11 impatient   12 safe

3. Complete the sentences with the adjectives below, with or without a negative prefix.

honest      legal      patient      polite      possible      safe

1   Police are investigating an ……………………… file-sharing site in the Philippines.

2   It was very ……………………… of him to arrive an hour late for dinner.

3   I get very ……………………… if I have to wait more than a few minutes for a download.

4   You don’t have to pay before the excursion; it’s ……………………… to pay at the end.

5   You mustn’t climb on that wall; it’s ………………………

6   You can believe everything she tells you; she’s always completely ………………………

Answer

1 illegal   2 impolite   3 impatient   4 possible

5 unsafe   6 honest

4. Answer the questions below.

1   What is a synonym for caring? ………………………

2   What is a synonym for considerate? ………………………

3   Do both adjectives have antonyms beginning with a negative prefix? ………………………

4   Which dictionary entry has information about which preposition you use with the adjective? ………………………

Answer

1 kind   2 thoughtful   3 yes   4 considerate

VOCAB BOOST!

When you record a new adjective, make a note of synonyms and antonyms at the same time. Antonyms often begin with a negative prefix.

5. Read the Vocab boost! box. Use a dictionary to find one synonym and one antonym of each adjective.

1   pleasant         SYN ………………………   OPP ………………………

2   fortunate       SYN ………………………   OPP ………………………

3   courteous      SYN ………………………   OPP ………………………

4   probable        SYN ………………………   OPP ………………………

Answer

(Possible answers)

1 enjoyable, unpleasant   2 lucky, unfortunate

3 polite, discourteous   4 almost certain, improbable

6. Complete the sentences choosing the correct word in brackets, using a negative prefix.

1   I can’t believe Sara was so ……………………… about her plans. I had no idea that she wanted to do that. (believable / honest)

2   I’m sorry my handwriting is so ……………………… . I’m the only one who can read it. (legible / possible)

3   You can have strong opinions, but there’s no need to be ………………………! (polite / legal)

4   It was ……………………… of him to spend all the money in their bank account. (satisfied / responsible)

5   It’s ……………………… to cross the road here. (safe / visible)

6   The director was so ……………………… with the actors that he fired all of them. (correct / satisfied)

7   The film is about a man who becomes ……………………… to everyone but his cat. (visible / legible)

8   It was totally ……………………… to criticise her work in front of everyone in the office. (appropriate / patient)

9   Your bedroom is so ………………………! There are books and clothes all over the floor! (kind / tidy)

Answer

1 dishonest   2 illegible   3 impolite   4 irresponsible

5 unsafe   6 dissatisfied   7 invisible   8 inappropriate   9 untidy

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♡♡♡

All over this amino, I’ve been seeing a lot of questions about which words you can and cannot use when writing affirmations.

Honestly, it makes me so happy to see so many people taking the time and effort to write their own affirmations! So, I want to address something that seems to be a common confusion.

This turned out to be a longer post than I had planned. In my defense, I took a lot of philosophy classes in college and now I cant ever write out an argument or explanation for anything without including every little detail. I believe there’s a lot of important information in here that I feel I can’t throw out, so please bear with me lol.

♡♡♡

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I.

NEGATIVE WORDS, JUNK WORDS, AND NEGATIVE AFFIRMATIONS

First, let me just explain the difference between negative words, and negative affirmations. I know that not everyone needs this explained, but I really do feel for the newbies who come in to this community, and don’t understand what all these awful, scary sounding things mean.

Negative affirmations are affirmations (full sentences) that cause negative effects on the listener. Most of the time, we associate this with untrustworthy channels—people who create these things on purpose.

However, many of us can accidentally create and use negative affirmations by using a negative word incorrectly.

«Negative words» is the name given to single words or conjunctions (often «cant, dont, no», etc) that may accidentally be used in affirmations, and ultimately, almost 100% of the time, turn a positive affirmation into a negative one. This is the term most people in the subliminal community use, and that’s fine, but I think it might cause confusion for newbies. So, for the rest of this blog in particular, I’m going to instead call these words, «junk words».

Outside of the subliminal community, if you were to ask someone to list some negative words, they might say words like «impossible, bad, cant, wont, no, ugly, etc.» These are all

literally-negative-words.

ALL JUNK WORDS ARE LITERALLY-NEGATIVE-WORDS, BUT NOT ALL LITERALLY-NEGATIVE-WORDS ARE JUNK WORDS.

Heres the important part: When choosing to use a literally-negative-word in your affirmation,

It is neutral.

Depending on how you use the word, it may create a positive(by simply only being a literally-negative word), or negative affirmation (by being used as a junk word.)

(Dont worry, I will explain how to use to them properly in part III.!)

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II.

HOW THE SUBCONSCIOUS INTERPRETS THESE THINGS

So, now that I’ve outlined what each of these things are, I’m going to explain how the subconscious mind interprets affirmations, and the reason why junk words are always bad, and literally-negative-words may not be.

~Misconception~

If the subconscious mind hears any negative word (literally or junk), it will get confused and automatically be overwritten into a negative affirmation and CHAOS AND DISASTER COMES YOUR WAY.

(Okay, that last part is a bit exaggerated, but people do get really worried about this.)

~Truth~

The subconscious is intelligent and understands the language you speak. The issue is, its language

/isn’t/ language. Using words to communicate with the subconscious is like using nothing but facial expressions to communicate with a super genius. Yeah, they’re going to understand what you mean, especially if you use a lot of careful detail, but if things get jumbled, it’s going to get real confusing real fast.

Let’s keep using this metaphor. Imagine you’re the person using facial expressions, and we’ll call the super genius «Z».

You want to show Z that you’re happy, so what do you do? You smile. But what if, while smiling, you accidentally get an itch or a twitch, and inadvertently scrunch your face, into a much less happy looking expression? Z is going to be confused about what you mean. How would they know that the twitch was an accident? You have no words to use to explain it to them!

They might think, «Huh, maybe she was happy for a minute there, but now she isn’t? Or maybe she doesnt like being happy, if it makes her scrunch her face like that?» Z is really smart, and might even think of 100 different possible explanations of what you might mean by the smile and the scrunch. But they’ll never know the truth, because you are only speaking in facial expressions.

When we try to write affirmations, junk words are like a twitch to your subconscious. (Literally negative words, however, are not. I’ll show how in section III.)

Lets say, for an example, you have brown eyes. And you dont want them anymore. So, you write the affirmation:

«I dont have brown eyes.»

We humans would read this and only ever understand it to mean thing. But our poor subconscious reads an affirmation with a twitch inside of it. The subconscious doesnt know whether you mean «I dont have brown eyes,» or «I — have brown eyes.»

AND, your subconscious is a billion times smarter than Z, so instead of just being confused and letting your affirmation go ineffective, it takes action. It makes a decision. What’s that decision?

It throws out the junk word.

Your perfectly innocent affirmation, gets turned into the opposite, negative affirmation, just because your subconscious thought it was helping by tidying up.

Got it? I promise we’re almost done!

(And don’t worry, my bad metaphor is over now lol.)

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III.

HOW TO IDENTIFY WHETHER A WORD SHOULD BE

USED IN YOUR AFFIRMATION

Hopefully now it’s easier to see whether a word can be used in your affirmation or not.

(I’m really sorry to do this, but I’m now gonna go old-school grammar lesson style on you for a second. I promise it’s for the greater good!)

Let’s keep the brown eyes example. We won’t worry about what your desired eye color is, you just really want to get rid of your brown eyes. (even though brown eyes are beautiful just like all eye colors, just sayin). Instead of writing out «the word that I dont know whether it should be used», I’m just gonna write «idk word», and we’ll use this for both examples.

~JUNK WORD EXAMPLE~

~~~

(It’s the issue we already identified in part II., just shown differently and down here now. I know I’m being repetitive, I’m sorry. But I asked you to bear with me!)

~~~

Affirmation: I dont have brown eyes.

Idk word: «dont»

Affirmation w/o the idk word: I have brown eyes. :x:

~~~

Conclusion: Without the idk word, it’s a complete sentence. Subconscious gets mixed signals, and probably will throw it out. Do not use this affirmation!

~LITERALLY-NEGATIVE-WORD EXAMPLE~

~~~

Affirmation: At no time are my eyes ever brown.

Idk word: no

Affirmation w/o the idk word: At time are my eyes ever brown. :white_check_mark:

~~~

Conclusion: Without the idk word, that jumble of words makes no sense. Your subconscious has no reason to remove the word, because it would just cause more confusion. You are good to go!

And guess what? We used the word «no»! The kryptonite found in so many accidentally negative affirmations!

(Yay! We’re nearly done. Thank you so much for sticking around!)

~A TRICKY THIRD EXAMPLE~

~~~

(I’m throwing this in because it’s really easy to accidentally let this problem slip by.)

~~~

Affirmation: It is impossible for me to have brown eyes.

Idk word: impossible :warning:

>>>Impossible is made of two parts. «im» and «possible». If your idk word has a negative prefix on it, take the prefix out only, not the whole word.<<<

Affirmation w/o idk word: It is possible for me to have brown eyes. :x:

~~~

Conclusion: In this case, «impossible» is a junk word, and it almost snuck in anyways! We gotta rewrite this one.

This trickiness also applies to conjunctions (cant wont, dont), because they are also made up of a negative part attached to a neutral/positive word. Instead of taking out «can’t» to test it, you should really be taking out the «‘t», or the «not».

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☆☆☆

Omg folks, we did it. I wrote it, you read it, let’s give everyone a round of applause.

I really do hope this helps those who are confused!

Let me just say, I am not a professional affirmation writer. If you want advice on how to write an effective affirmation, I’d honestly just check -this post- out instead of asking me. I just thought I’d help clear up how to tell whether you’re ruining your beautiful affs or not!

But, if you have any questions, related to this post, please let me know! I’ll be happy to do what I can to help.

Thank you for making it through the whole thing if you did, I love you 3000♡

☆☆☆

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На основании Вашего запроса эти примеры могут содержать грубую лексику.

На основании Вашего запроса эти примеры могут содержать разговорную лексику.

негативное слово

плохого слова

отрицательное слово

негативного слова

неприятное слово

отрицательного слова

негативным словом

In the same way, one negative word can cause anarchy, confusion and disturb the country’s peace.

Точно также, одно негативное слово может стать причиной анархии, смятения и нарушения мира в стране.

Over time, ‘fat’ has become a negative word, not a simple statement of size.

С течением времени «fat» превратилось в негативное слово, и больше не является простой констатацией физического состояния тела.

Today, the world lost a truly amazing human being, so gentle and never a negative word spoken about anyone.

Сегодня мир потерял по-настоящему замечательного человека, очень вежливого, о котором никто никогда не сказал ни единого плохого слова.

I’ve never heard her say a negative word about anybody, she always finds the good in every single person.

Я никогда не слышал от него ни одного плохого слова в адрес кого-либо, в каждом человеке он мог найти что-то хорошее.

Consumers tend to hear the negative word, and form a negative connection with your brand, without even realizing it.

Услышав отрицательное слово, потребители, как правило, формируют отрицательную связь с вашим брендом, даже не осознавая этого.

No is not always a negative word, either — it helps us to create positive boundaries for ourselves, and our bodies.

Нет — это не всегда отрицательное слово, оно помогает нам выстраивать собственные границы и границы в отношениях с партнером.

A negative word or action might take a withdrawal from it.

Любое негативное слово или действие, может вывести из равновесия.

Roaming has such a negative word to people that we have banned it from our vocabulary in the company.

«Роуминг имеет такое негативное слово для людей, что мы убрали его из нашего словарного запаса в компании.

Actually, I never heard him say a single negative word in criticism of others’ behavior or their treatment of him.

Но я никогда не слышал, чтобы он произнес хоть одно негативное слово, критикуя поведение других или то, как они обращались с ним.

Cholesterol is often seen as a negative word.

If you listen to and do not reject a negative word of evil origin, it is as if you agreed to it.

Если вы слушаете и не отвергаете отрицательное слово злого происхождения, это как если бы вы согласились на это.

Trump has still not spoken a single negative word about Vladimir Putin.

И тем не менее, Дональд Трамп еще ни разу не сказал ни одного плохого слова о Владимире Путине.

The one person he’s never said a negative word about is Vladimir Putin.

Единственный человек, о ком он никогда не сказал плохого слова — это Владимир Путин».

«Problem» is such a negative word.

Technician is not a negative word.

Not one negative word from anyone.

When I’m in front of such gifted players I cannot say any negative word.

Когда я перед такими игроками стою, я не могу сказать чего-то плохого.

But not a negative word from her mouth did I hear.

Any negative word should be eliminated.

She could make friends with anyone and never had a negative word against anyone.

Она может найти общий язык с любым человек и никогда не имела каких-либо антипатий по отношению к людям.

Ничего не найдено для этого значения.

Результатов: 62. Точных совпадений: 62. Затраченное время: 133 мс

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As @blubberguy says, «any» is not a negative word. Negative words are words like «no», «not», «never», and «none».

Like many «grammar rules» that you hear, «never use a double negative» is not really a valid rule. It is a guideline.

Yes, double negatives are sometimes just bad grammar. «I am not never gonna help Bob.» What does that mean? Taken literally, it would seem to say that you ARE going to help Bob: «not» would mean to reverse «never».

But there are many cases where a double negative is perfectly valid grammatically. Sometimes we use a double negative for emphasis. «I am not, no way, ever going to help Bob.» «Not» and «no» are both negatives, but they are clearly not reversing each other. They are repetition for emphasis.

Sometimes we want to reverse a negative. Like: «I am not refusing to help Bob.» In this sentence, «not» and «refusing» are both negative words. But people often say things like this as a milder form of a positive. The person doesn’t say he is «agreeing to help Bob», just that he is «not refusing». He may be helping Bob reluctantly, or he hasn’t decided yet whether to agree or refuse. So he is not refusing, but he isn’t necessarily actually agreeing either.

The problem with double negatives used this way is that it can be confusing. I recall a discussion of this that I read years ago where the writer mentioned a sentence he read in a newspaper about some political development that had a string of negatives. I forget the exact example but it was something like, «Congress decided not to refuse to delay the vote on repeal of the law banning X.» This sentence has a number of words that in context are negative: «not», «refuse», «delay», «repeal», «banning». So was this action by Congress for or against X? You have to study it and think it through.

You often hear people say, «two negatives make a positive». Apparently they are trying to apply the rules of arithmetic to grammar, and are thinking of an expression like -(-3)=3. But who says the rules of arithmetic apply to grammar? And even if they do, sure, multiplying two negatives gives a positive, but adding two negatives gives a bigger negative.

Negation in English sentences can be expressed with the help of negative adverbs, negative pronouns, or negative conjunctions, such as «not, no, nothing, nobody, no one, none, neither, neither…nor, never, nowhere».

Ways of expressing negation and typical negative constructions are described in this material. (Inverted negative constructions beginning with «never, not only, no sooner» and the like are described in Inversion in the section Miscellany.)

Main ways of expressing negation

Negation is most frequently expressed by using «not» with an auxiliary verb to express the opposite meaning of verbs, nouns, and adjectives (he did not ask; it wasn’t done; I haven’t seen it; he is not my brother; it’s not funny). Also, negation is often expressed with the help of «no, nothing, nobody» and other negative pronouns (I have no time; nothing happened).

In some cases, NO and NOT can be used in the same situations. NO has the same meaning as «not a» before a singular countable noun and the same meaning as «not any» before a plural countable noun and before an uncountable noun. For example:

He has no car. – He doesn’t have a car.

She has no brothers. – She doesn’t have any brothers.

I have no time now. – I don’t have any time now.

There is no bread on the table. – There isn’t any bread on the table.

There are no stores near our hotel. – There aren’t any stores near our hotel.

According to the rules, only one negative is allowed within one and the same construction in English. In those cases where there are two negatives in Russian sentences, there is only one negative in corresponding English sentences. For example:

I found no mistakes in your composition. – I didn’t find any mistakes in your composition.

She saw no one. – She didn’t see anyone.

He said nothing. – He didn’t say anything.

This sometimes presents a problem for Russian learners of English as two negatives are often necessary in Russian negative sentences. Besides, learners of English have difficulty choosing between NO and NOT. (Comparison of NO and NOT is provided at the end of this material.)

Note: The use of the pronoun «any» in different types of sentences, including negative sentences, is described in Some and Any in the section Miscellany.

NOT: Main cases of use

NOT is a negative particle (an adverb). NOT changes the meaning of words (of verbs, nouns, adjectives, adverbs) to the opposite.

Main use of NOT is to express the opposite meaning by negating the auxiliary verb. NOT is often contracted with the auxiliary or modal verb in speech and writing. (Full forms are considered preferable in formal writing.)

I do not like this film. / I don’t like this film.

She will not come to the party. / She won’t come to the party.

Do not ask him. / Don’t ask him.

You should not do it. / You shouldn’t do it.

I cannot help him. / I can’t help him.

He was not invited. / He wasn’t invited.

A knife is not a toy.

I saw Ella, not her sister.

It’s a pen, not a pencil. I need pencils, not pens.

He is not old.

It’s not important.

Her school is not far from here. / Her school isn’t far from here.

I can go there with you, but not today.

It works, but not very well.

Place of NOT in a sentence

NOT usually stands after the auxiliary verb before the main verb. Examples:

He does not know it. / He doesn’t know it.

She did not call him. / She didn’t call him.

We have not seen her lately. / We haven’t seen her lately.

He is not going to buy it. / He isn’t going to buy it.

If there are two auxiliary verbs in a tense form, NOT is placed after the first.

These letters have not been sent yet. / These letters haven’t been sent yet.

She might not have received my letter.

NOT after linking verb BE

NOT is placed after the linking verb BE before the adjective or noun in the predicative.

This dress is not new. / This dress isn’t new.

The book was not interesting. / The book wasn’t interesting.

He is not a very good driver.

It is not the best example.

A bat is not a bird. Bats are not birds.

His name is not John. / His name isn’t John.

It was not Tom. / It wasn’t Tom.

NOT and Verb + infinitive

If the main verb is followed by the infinitive (or gerund), NOT usually stands before the main verb.

She does not want to invite him. / She doesn’t want to invite him.

I don’t want to be late.

He doesn’t seem to understand it.

I don’t expect to see him today.

I don’t intend to go there.

She doesn’t like to work late.

I don’t mind working on weekends.

I haven’t finished writing my letter.

NOT is placed before the infinitive (or gerund) if the meaning of the sentence requires it.

She decided not to invite him.

Try not to be late.

It is better not to discuss it with him.

I prefer not to work on weekends.

I regret not telling him about it.

The meaning of the sentence usually changes when NOT stands before the infinitive, as compared with similar sentences in which NOT stands before the main verb.

He did not ask me to call her. – He asked me not to call her.

I did not promise to do it. – I promised not to do it.

He does not like working on Saturdays. – He likes not having to work on Saturdays.

Note:

Note the preferred way of negation in the following sentences:

I don’t think I know him.

I don’t think I met her.

I don’t think that it will rain today.

But: I hope that it won’t rain today.

NO: Main cases of use

NO is a pronoun used as an adjective before nouns. NO before nouns indicates the absence of something. NO is also used before gerunds in certain constructions.

NO is an adverb used as the opposite of YES in responses. NO as an adverb is also used before the comparative degree of adjectives and adverbs.

The affirmative form of the verb is used in sentences containing NO so that the sentence has only one negative.

He has no time.

They have no children.

They had water, but no food.

With milk and sugar? – A little milk, but no sugar.

There is no telephone in his house.

There are no mistakes in your composition.

There is no need to worry.

No guests have arrived yet.

No part of this text may be reproduced without permission.

No smoking. No littering.

No parking.

There was no telling what he might do.

Would you like some coffee? – No, thank you.

Are they here? – No, they are not.

She has no more money.

He feels no better today. / He doesn’t feel any better today.

We can wait no longer. / We can’t wait any longer.

Other negative pronouns

The indefinite pronouns «nothing, nobody, no one, none» are used in the function of nouns; the verb is used in the affirmative form.

He said nothing. / He didn’t say anything.

He told nobody about it. / He didn’t tell anybody about it.

She saw no one in the yard. / She didn’t see anyone in the yard.

That’s none of your business.

Nothing has changed.

Nothing happened.

Nobody knows how it happened.

No one believed him.

No one has seen him.

None of them can help him.

There is nothing in this drawer.

There is nothing we can do.

How much money have you got? – I’ve got none. / None. / I’ve got no money. / I haven’t got any money. / I haven’t got any.

(Agreement of subject and predicate in number, including indefinite pronouns in the function of subjects, is described in Agreement in the section Grammar.)

The use of «nowhere»

The adverb «nowhere» is used as an adverb and as a noun. The following examples illustrate the use of «nowhere».

We didn’t go anywhere last week. (We went nowhere last week.)

Where did you go? – Nowhere.

I have nowhere to go.

He has got nowhere to live.

She was nowhere to be found.

They appeared from nowhere. / They appeared out of nowhere.

This takes us nowhere. This will take us nowhere.

Either, neither, and nor

The pronoun «neither» means «not either (of two people or things); not one or the other». The pronoun «neither» is the negative form of the pronoun «either».

Neither answer is correct.

Neither of them was able to help him.

Which of these cars do you like? – Neither. / I like neither of them. / I don’t like either of them.

Don’t use «either» or «neither» if you have more than two to choose from. Compare:

Neither of the answers is correct. – None of the answers is correct.

The pronoun «both» is not used in negative constructions. «Neither» is used instead of «both» in negative sentences.

We both knew it. / Both of us knew it. – Neither of us knew it.

The adverb «too» is not used in negative constructions. The adverb «either» is used instead of «too» in negative sentences.

I know him too. – I don’t know him either.

The conjunctions «either…or» and «neither…nor» imply the choice out of two (people, things, groups, actions). «Either…or» is used in negative constructions with the verb in the negative form. «Neither…nor» is used with the verb in the affirmative form.

He doesn’t speak either Spanish or French. / He speaks neither Spanish nor French.

Neither his family nor his friends knew about his plans.

«Neither» is also an adverb used in phrases like «Neither do I». (See So do I. Neither do I. in the section Phrases.)

The adverb «never»

The adverb «never» is used in negative constructions with the verb in the affirmative form. «Never» is used very often.

I have never heard about it.

She has never visited New York.

I will never forget it.

The stolen diamonds were never found.

He was never seen again.

He never married.

He is never late.

One never knows. / You never know.

It’s now or never!

Never mind. / Never mind about that.

Never leave this door open.

Answers to negative questions

Compare the answers to the affirmative and negative questions below. The speaker agrees in the first answer and disagrees in the second. Note the difference in the use of Yes and No in English and Russian answers to negative tag questions.

Did you see him? – 1. Yes, I did. (Yes, I saw him.) 2. No, I didn’t. (No, I didn’t see him.)

Didn’t you see him? – 1. Yes, I did. (Yes, I saw him.) 2. No, I didn’t. (No, I didn’t see him.)

You saw him, didn’t you? – 1. Yes, I did. (Yes, I saw him.) 2. No, I didn’t. (No, I didn’t see him.)

You didn’t see him, did you? – 1. No, I didn’t. (No, I didn’t see him.) 2. Yes, I did. (Yes, I saw him.)

Note:

In negative questions, NOT is usually contracted with the auxiliary verb: Didn’t you know it? Hasn’t he called you?

If you want to use the full form, your negative questions should be like these: Did you not know it? Has he not called you? (Such questions are less common.)

Shortened negative questions

Sometimes a negative question is asked in a shortened form, and the answers offered are usually just Yes or No (for example, in some forms that you need to fill out on the Internet). In such cases, it may be difficult to understand the meaning of Yes and No. Compare the meanings of the answers in these examples:

Disallow images? – Yes. (Images won’t be shown.)

Disallow images? – No. (Images will be shown.)

Never display email? – Yes. (Email address won’t be shown.)

Never display email? – No. (Email address will be shown.)

(Different types of questions are described in Word Order in Questions in the section Grammar.)

Double negative

Double negative is a construction in which two negative words express a single negation. Double negative is considered nonstandard (i.e., incorrect) in English and should be avoided in speech and writing.

English does not allow double negative, which means that you can use only one negative word within the same construction. Compare the number of negatives in English and Russian sentences:

She did not call anyone. / She called no one.

She has not done anything. / She has done nothing.

He never visits them.

The following examples show incorrect and correct negative constructions.

Incorrect: I don’t have nothing; I didn’t ask no one; I didn’t see neither of them; there isn’t nobody; he doesn’t go nowhere.

Correct: I don’t have anything; I have nothing; I didn’t ask anyone; I asked no one; I didn’t see either of them; I saw neither of them; there isn’t anybody; there is nobody; he doesn’t go anywhere.

The adverbs «hardly, scarcely, barely» are used in the meaning of a negative. It is considered incorrect to use them together with an additional negative.

Incorrect: hardly none; scarcely none; hardly never; can’t hardly; can’t scarcely; can’t barely.

Correct: hardly any; scarcely any; hardly ever; can hardly; can scarcely; can barely.

There is hardly any cheese left.

She hardly ever watches TV.

I could hardly breathe.

Double negative in songs

Double negative is often used in the lyrics of modern songs. Double negative in song lyrics is usually formed by replacing «any» with «no» for emphasis and by using «ain’t» (for all persons instead of «am not, isn’t, aren’t, haven’t, hasn’t»). Such use is a stylistic device aimed at making the song stronger, simpler, and closer to the listener.

Here are some examples illustrating the use of double negative in songs: I just can’t take no more (Iron Maiden); I can’t get no satisfaction (The Rolling Stones); Come back baby I never did you no wrong (Gary Moore); Sweet bitter words unlike nothing I have heard (Korn); Ain’t no love in the heart of the city (performed by Whitesnake); Ain’t no sunshine when she’s gone (Bill Withers); It ain’t no big thing but it’s growin’ (Elvis Presley); And you still ain’t got no place to go (Deep Purple); You ain’t goin’ nowhere (Bob Dylan); She ain’t never gonna be the same (Aerosmith).

Learners of English should avoid using double negatives or «ain’t» in their speech and writing. Native speakers sometimes use double negatives or «ain’t» in informal speech, but generally, such use is regarded as nonstandard and is unacceptable in formal speech and writing.

Other constructions with two negatives

There are some constructions with two negatives which are not considered to be wrong. For example, «neither…nor» is not regarded as double negative.

Neither Mike nor Jim knows her address.

They know neither her address nor her telephone number.

Negative answers to negative general questions are not double negatives either.

Do you know her address? – No, I don’t.

Didn’t she tell you? – No, she did not.

There may also occur some sentence constructions which are not regarded as containing double negative despite the presence of two negatives. Generally, it is better to rephrase such sentences to avoid possible misunderstanding that two negatives may cause. For example:

I don’t like not being told the truth. – I don’t like it when people don’t tell me the truth.

I don’t mind not watching this film. – I don’t really want to watch this film.

They were waiting for him; he couldn’t not go. – They were waiting for him; he had to go.

As a rule, such constructions with two negatives are more expressive than ordinary affirmative constructions with similar meaning. Generally, it is advisable for language learners to use ordinary constructions in ordinary situations. Compare these examples:

They left no stone unturned in their search for the missing child. – They did everything they could in their search for the missing child.

His actions were not entirely unselfish. – He had his own personal interest in it.

Note: Proverbs

Numerous examples of negative constructions can be found in English proverbs. Some proverbs exist in negative and affirmative variants. (See Russian and English Proverbs in the section Idioms.)

All is not gold that glitters. All that glitters is not gold.

He who makes no mistakes makes nothing.

There is no smoke without fire. – Where there is smoke there is fire.

What’s done can’t be undone. – What’s done is done.

Additional material: Comparison of NO and NOT

NO expresses absence (He has no money), disagreement (No, I don’t), refusal (No, thank you). NOT changes the meaning to the opposite (He does not like it; No, I do not; I am not a student; It is not funny).

NO is used before nouns (He has no friends; She has no time); before gerunds (No smoking); in responses (No, thank you); before certain pronouns (There is no other way; I’ll do no such thing); before the comparative degree of adjectives and adverbs (She has no more money; He is no older than you are; We can wait no longer).

NOT is used before main verbs (He does not work; He is not sleeping); in responses (No, I’m not; No, she doesn’t); before nouns (He is not a doctor; These are not toys); before articles (not a lot; not the best); before certain pronouns (not all of them; not many; not this one); before adjectives (He is not rich; It’s not ready); before adverbs (not now; not very well); before prepositions (not in winter; not on Monday).

NOT is often contracted with the auxiliary verb, especially in spoken English (he doesn’t work; he hasn’t read this book; he isn’t sleeping; he isn’t a doctor; he isn’t rich; it isn’t funny). NOT is not contracted in «I am not; I’m not».

Similar cases of the use of NO and NOT before nouns, pronouns, adjectives and adverbs are described below.

NO and NOT before nouns

Before nouns, NO has the meaning «not a; not any». NO is used before a singular or plural countable noun and before an uncountable noun.

«Not a» is used before a singular countable noun; «not any» is used before a plural countable noun and before an uncountable noun.

In such cases, NO and NOT can be used in the same situations. In ordinary situations, negating the auxiliary verb with the help of NOT is usually preferable, as NO may sound emphatic. (NO stresses complete absence.)

They have no car. – They do not have a car. / They don’t have a car.

She has no friends. – She does not have any friends. / She doesn’t have any friends.

He has no money. – He does not have any money. / He doesn’t have any money.

I found no information about it. – I did not find any information about it. / I didn’t find any information about it.

Emphatic meaning of NO

NO may have the following emphatic meaning: «not at all; far from being». NOT does not have such meanings. Compare:

He is no fool. He is no genius.

He is no teacher. (Meaning: He is not a good teacher. i.e., he can’t teach)

He is not a teacher. (Meaning: He is not a teacher by profession.)

Note the phrase «be not much of»: He is not much of a teacher / cook / writer. It was not much of a dinner.

NO and NOT after «there is; there are»

NO and NOT are often used after «there is; there are», usually without noticeable difference in meaning. NOT is usually in the contracted form after «there is; there are».

In many cases, using NO after «there is; there are» is preferable. There are many set expressions and proverbs with «there is no».

There is no milk in the refrigerator. – There isn’t any milk in the refrigerator.

There are no chairs in the room. – There aren’t any chairs in the room.

There were no cars in the parking lot. – There weren’t any cars in the parking lot.

There is no rule without an exception.

There is no sense in it.

There is no need to shout.

NO and NOT before the subject

NO is used before the subject expressed by a singular or plural countable noun or by an uncountable noun.

No textbook can explain all the rules.

No cars were sold yesterday.

No students attended the lecture.

No information about it has ever been published.

NOT (i.e., «not a») can be used before the subject expressed by a singular countable noun, with the meaning «not even one».

Not a sound came from behind the door.

Note: «Not any» is generally not used before the subject at the beginning of a sentence. Use NO as in the examples above, i.e. «No cars; No information», etc.

Other similar cases with NO and NOT

NO and NOT before pronouns

NOT is used before the pronouns «all; everyone; many; much», often at the beginning of a sentence before the subject.

Not everyone knows about it.

Not all of them are here.

Not many students were present.

Not much can be done in this situation.

There’s not much time. It’s not much.

NO is used before the pronouns «other; such».

No other options were available.

There was no other way.

I’ll do no such thing!

There is no such thing as eternal life.

NO and NOT before adjectives and adverbs

NOT before adjectives and adverbs changes their meaning to the opposite.

This bag is not very large.

It’s not too late to change it.

I talked to him not long ago.

NO is used before adjectives and adverbs in the comparative degree.

They are no longer friends. – They aren’t friends any longer.

This bag is no larger than that one.

We should leave no later than eight.

She no longer works here. – She doesn’t work here any longer.

It is no less than a mile to the station.

NOT is used in those cases where «much» stands before the comparative degree of an adjective or adverb.

It is not much warmer today than it was yesterday.

She types faster than I do, but not much faster.

The constructions «as…as; not as…as» are often used to compare the qualities of people or things: It is as cold today as it was yesterday. This box is not as big as that one. He is not as tall as she is. (See «Constructions of comparison» in Degrees of Comparison in the section Miscellany.)

Set expressions with NO and NOT

Some set expressions with NO: no doubt; no idea; no comment; no hurry; no joke; no luck; no matter; no problem; no wonder; no kidding; no smoking; no parking; no later than; no less than; no longer; no better; no further; no sooner…than; no more; no more than; no other than; by no means; in no hurry; in no time; on no account; no other way.

Some set expressions with NOT: not a bit; not a chance; not at all; not any longer; not any more; not bad; not bad at all; not a bad idea; not good; not so good; not really; not in the least; not long ago; not enough; not much; not only…but also; not surprisingly; not to mention; not to say; not to worry; not without reason; not worth it; not yet; why not.

Отрицательные конструкции

Отрицание в английских предложениях можно выразить с помощью отрицательных наречий, отрицательных местоимений или отрицательных союзов, таких как «not, no, nothing, nobody, no one, none, neither, neither…nor, never, nowhere».

Способы выражения отрицания и типичные отрицательные конструкции описаны в этом материале. (Отрицательные конструкции с обратным порядком слов, начинающиеся с «never, not only, no sooner» и т.п., описаны в статье Inversion в разделе Miscellany.)

Основные способы выражения отрицания

Отрицание наиболее часто выражается употреблением «not» с вспомогательным глаголом для выражения противоположного значения глаголов, существительных, прилагательных (he did not ask; it wasn’t done; I haven’t seen it; he is not my brother; it’s not funny). Также, отрицание часто выражается с помощью «no, nothing, nobody» и других отрицательных местоимений (I have no time; nothing happened).

В некоторых случаях, NO и NOT могут употребляться в одних и тех же ситуациях. NO имеет такое же значение как «not a» перед исчисляемым существительным в ед. числе и такое же значение как «not any» перед исчисляемым существительным во мн. числе и перед неисчисляемым существительным. Например:

У него нет автомобиля.

У неё нет братьев.

У меня нет времени сейчас.

На столе нет хлеба.

Возле нашей гостиницы нет магазинов.

Согласно правилам, допускается только одно отрицание в пределах одной и той же конструкции в английском языке. В тех случаях, где в русских предложениях два отрицания, в соответствующих английских предложениях всего одно отрицание. Например:

Я не нашёл (никаких) ошибок в вашем сочинении.

Она никого не видела.

Он ничего не сказал.

Это иногда представляет проблему для русских, изучающих английский язык, т.к. в русских отрицательных предложениях часто необходимы два отрицания. Кроме того, изучающие английский язык испытывают трудности в выборе между NO и NOT. (Сравнение NO и NOT дано в конце этого материала.)

Примечание: Употребление местоимения «any» в различных типах предложений, включая отрицательные предложения, описывается в статье Some and Any в разделе Miscellany.

NOT: Основные случаи употребления

NOT – отрицательная частица (наречие). NOT меняет значение слов (глаголов, существительных, прилагательных, наречий) на противоположное.

Основное употребление NOT – выразить противоположное значение путём отрицания вспомогательного глагола. NOT часто сокращается с вспомогательным или модальным глаголом в устной и письменной речи. (Полные формы считаются предпочтительными в официальной письменной речи.)

Мне не нравится этот фильм.

Она не придёт на вечеринку.

Не спрашивайте его.

Вам не следует делать этого.

Я не могу помочь ему.

Его не пригласили.

Нож не игрушка.

Я видел Эллу, а не её сестру.

Это ручка, а не карандаш. Мне нужны карандаши, а не ручки.

Он не старый.

Это не важно.

Её школа недалеко отсюда.

Я могу пойти туда с вами, но не сегодня.

Оно работает, но не очень хорошо.

Место NOT в предложении

NOT обычно стоит после вспомогательного глагола перед основным глаголом. Примеры:

Он не знает этого.

Она не звонила ему.

Мы не видели её в последнее время.

Он не собирается покупать это.

Если во временной форме два вспомогательных глагола, NOT ставится после первого.

Эти письма ещё не отправлены.

Она, возможно, не получила моё письмо.

NOT после глагола-связки BE

NOT ставится после глагола-связки BE перед прилагательным или существительным в предикативе (в именной части сказуемого).

Это платье не новое.

Книга была не интересная.

Он не очень хороший водитель.

Это не самый лучший пример.

Летучая мышь не птица. Летучие мыши не птицы.

Его имя не Джон.

Это был не Том.

NOT и Глагол + инфинитив

Если за основным глаголом следует инфинитив (или герундий), NOT обычно стоит перед основным глаголом.

Она не хочет приглашать его.

Я не хочу опоздать.

Кажется, он не понимает этого.

Я не ожидаю увидеть его сегодня.

Я не намереваюсь идти туда.

Она не любит работать допоздна.

Я не возражаю работать в выходные.

Я не закончил писать моё письмо.

NOT ставится перед инфинитивом (или герундием), если этого требует значение предложения.

Она решила не приглашать его.

Постарайтесь не опоздать.

Лучше не обсуждать это с ним.

Я предпочитаю не работать в выходные.

Я сожалею, что не сказал ему об этом.

Значение предложения обычно меняется, когда NOT стоит перед инфинитивом, по сравнению с похожими предложениями, в которых NOT стоит перед основным глаголом.

Он не просил меня звонить ей. – Он просил меня не звонить ей.

Я не обещал сделать это. – Я обещал не делать этого.

Он не любит работать по субботам. – Ему нравится, что не нужно работать по субботам.

Примечание:

Обратите внимание на предпочтительный способ отрицания в следующих предложениях:

Не думаю, что я знаю его.

Не думаю, что я с ней знаком.

Не думаю, что сегодня пойдёт дождь.

Но: Надеюсь, что сегодня не будет дождя.

NO: Основные случаи употребления

NO – местоимение, употребляемое как прилагательное перед существительными. NO перед существительными указывает на отсутствие чего-то. NO также употребляется перед герундием в определённых конструкциях.

NO – наречие, употребляемое как противоположность YES в откликах. NO как наречие также употребляется перед сравнительной степенью прилагательных и наречий.

Утвердительная форма глагола употребляется в предложениях, содержащих NO, так чтобы в предложении было только одно отрицание.

У него нет времени.

У них нет детей.

У них была вода, но не было еды.

С молоком и сахаром? – Немного молока, но без сахара.

В его доме нет телефона.

В вашем сочинении нет ошибок.

Нет необходимости беспокоиться.

Ни один гость ещё не приехал.

Ни одна часть этого текста не может быть воспроизведена без разрешения.

Не курить. Не сорить.

Стоянка запрещена. (Не парковаться.)

Невозможно сказать, что он может сделать.

Не хотите ли кофе? – Нет, спасибо.

Они здесь? – Нет.

У неё нет больше денег.

Он чувствует себя не лучше сегодня. / Ему (нисколько) не лучше сегодня.

Мы не можем дольше ждать.

Другие отрицательные местоимения

Неопределённые местоимения «nothing, nobody, no one, none» употребляются в функции существительных; глагол употребляется в утвердительной форме.

Он ничего не сказал.

Он никому не сказал об этом.

Она никого не видела во дворе.

Это вас не касается. / Это не ваше дело.

Ничего не изменилось.

Ничего не случилось.

Никто не знает, как это случилось.

Никто не поверил ему.

Никто не видел его.

Никто из них не может помочь ему.

В этом ящике стола ничего нет.

Мы ничего не можем сделать.

Сколько у вас денег? – Нисколько. / У меня нет денег. / У меня нет никаких денег.

(Согласование подлежащего и сказуемого в числе, включая неопределённые местоимения в функции подлежащих, описывается в статье Agreement в разделе Grammar.)

Употребление «nowhere»

Наречие «nowhere» употребляется как наречие и как существительное. Следующие примеры иллюстрируют употребление «nowhere».

Мы никуда не ходили на прошлой неделе.

Куда вы ходили? – Никуда.

Мне некуда идти.

Ему негде жить.

Её нигде не могли найти.

Они появились ниоткуда.

Это нас никуда не ведёт. Это ничего нам не даёт. Это нам ничего не даст.

Either, neither и nor

Местоимение «neither» значит «ни один (из двух людей или вещей); ни тот, ни другой». Местоимение «neither» – это отрицательная форма местоимения «either».

Ни тот, ни другой ответ не правилен.

Ни тот, ни другой не смог помочь ему.

Который из этих автомобилей тебе нравится? – Ни тот, ни другой. / Мне не нравится ни тот, ни другой.

Не употребляйте «either» или «neither», если вы выбираете более чем из двух. Сравните:

Ни один из (двух) ответов не правилен. – Ни один из (ряда) ответов не правилен.

Местоимение «both» не употребляется в отрицательных конструкциях. «Neither» употребляется вместо «both» в отрицательных предложениях.

Мы оба знали это. – Мы оба не знали этого. (т.е. Ни один из нас двоих не знал этого.)

Наречие «too» не употребляется в отрицательных конструкциях. Наречие «either» употребляется вместо «too» в отрицательных предложениях.

Я тоже знаю его. – Я тоже не знаю его.

Союзы «either…or» и «neither…nor» подразумевают выбор из двух (людей, вещей, групп, действий). «Either…or» употребляется в отрицательных конструкциях с глаголом в отрицательной форме. «Neither…nor» употребляется с глаголом в утвердительной форме.

Он не говорит ни на испанском, ни на французском языке.

Ни его семья, ни его друзья не знали о его планах.

«Neither» также наречие, которое употребляется во фразах типа «Neither do I». (См. So do I. Neither Do I. в разделе Phrases.)

Наречие «never»

Наречие «never» употребляется в отрицательных конструкциях с глаголом в утвердительной форме. «Never» употребляется очень часто.

Я никогда не слышал об этом.

Она никогда не была в Нью-Йорке.

Я никогда не забуду этого.

Украденные бриллианты так и не нашли.

Больше его никогда не видели.

Он так никогда и не женился.

Он никогда не опаздывает.

Никогда не знаешь, что будет (в будущем).

Сейчас или никогда!

Неважно.

Никогда не оставляй эту дверь открытой.

Ответы на отрицательные вопросы

Сравните ответы на утвердительные и отрицательные вопросы ниже. Говорящий соглашается в первом ответе и не соглашается во втором. Обратите внимание на разницу в употреблении Yes и No в английских и русских ответах на отрицательные разделительные вопросы.

Вы видели его? – 1. Да, видел. (Да, я видел его.) 2. Нет, не видел. (Нет, я не видел его.)

Разве вы не видели его? – 1. Да, видел. (Да, я видел его.) 2. Нет, не видел. (Нет, я не видел его.)

Вы видели его, не так ли? – 1. Да, видел. (Да, я видел его.) 2. Нет, не видел. (Нет, я не видел его.)

Вы не видели его, не так ли? – 1. Нет, не видел. (Нет, я не видел его.) 2. Нет, видел. (Нет, я видел его.)

Примечание:

В отрицательных вопросах NOT обычно сокращается с вспомогательным глаголом: Didn’t you know it? Hasn’t he called you?

Если вы хотите употребить полную форму, ваши отрицательные вопросы должны быть такими: Did you not know it? Has he not called you? (Такие вопросы менее употребительны.)

Укороченные отрицательные вопросы

Иногда отрицательный вопрос задаётся в укороченной форме, а предложенные ответы обычно просто Yes или No (например, в некоторых формах, которые вам нужно заполнить в Интернете). В таких случаях может быть трудно понять значение ответов Yes и No. Сравните значения ответов в этих примерах:

Не разрешать изображения? – Да. (Изображения не будут показаны.)

Не разрешать изображения? – Нет. (Изображения будут показаны.)

Никогда не показывать email? – Да. (Email-адрес не будет показан.)

Никогда не показывать email? – Нет. (Email-адрес будет показан.)

(Различные типы вопросов описываются в статье Word Order in Questions в разделе Grammar.)

Двойное отрицание

Двойное отрицание – это конструкция, в которой два отрицательных слова выражают одно отрицание. Двойное отрицание считается нестандартным (т.е. неправильным) в английском языке, и его следует избегать в устной и письменной речи.

Английский язык не допускает двойного отрицания, что значит, что можно употребить только одно отрицательное слово в пределах одной и той же конструкции. Сравните количество отрицаний в английских и русских предложениях:

Она никому не звонила.

Она ничего не сделала.

Он никогда не навещает их.

Следующие примеры показывают неправильные и правильные отрицательные конструкции.

Неправильно: I don’t have nothing; I didn’t ask no one; I didn’t see neither of them; there isn’t nobody; he doesn’t go nowhere.

Правильно: I don’t have anything; I have nothing; I didn’t ask anyone; I asked no one; I didn’t see either of them; I saw neither of them; there isn’t anybody; there is nobody; he doesn’t go anywhere.

Наречия «hardly, scarcely, barely» употребляются в значении отрицания. Считается неправильным употреблять их вместе с дополнительным отрицанием.

Неправильно: hardly none; scarcely none; hardly never; can’t hardly; can’t scarcely; can’t barely.

Правильно: hardly any; scarcely any; hardly ever; can hardly; can scarcely; can barely.

Сыра почти не осталось.

Она почти никогда не смотрит телевизор.

Я едва мог дышать.

Двойное отрицание в песнях

Двойное отрицание часто употребляется в словах современных песен. Двойное отрицание в словах песен обычно образуется заменой «any» на «no» для усиления и употреблением «ain’t» (для всех лиц вместо «am not, isn’t, aren’t, haven’t, hasn’t»). Такое употребление является стилистическим приёмом, направленным на то, чтобы сделать песню сильнее, проще и ближе к слушателю.

Вот некоторые примеры, иллюстрирующие употребление двойного отрицания в песнях: I just can’t take no more (Iron Maiden); I can’t get no satisfaction (The Rolling Stones); Come back baby I never did you no wrong (Gary Moore); Sweet bitter words unlike nothing I have heard (Korn); Ain’t no love in the heart of the city (в исполнении Whitesnake); Ain’t no sunshine when she’s gone (Bill Withers); It ain’t no big thing but it’s growin’ (Elvis Presley); And you still ain’t got no place to go (Deep Purple); You ain’t goin’ nowhere (Bob Dylan); She ain’t never gonna be the same (Aerosmith).

Изучающим язык следует избегать употребления двойного отрицания или «ain’t» в своей устной и письменной речи. Носители языка иногда употребляют двойное отрицание или «ain’t» в разговорной речи, но в целом, такое употребление считается нестандартным и неприемлемо в официальной устной и письменной речи.

Другие конструкции с двумя отрицаниями

Есть некоторые конструкции с двумя отрицаниями, которые не считаются неправильными. Например, «neither…nor» не рассматривается как двойное отрицание.

Ни Майк, ни Джим не знает её адрес.

Они не знают ни её адрес, ни номер её телефона.

Отрицательные ответы на отрицательные общие вопросы также не являются двойными отрицаниями.

Вы знаете её адрес? – Нет, не знаю.

Разве она вам не сказала? – Нет, не сказала.

Могут также возникать конструкции предложений, которые не рассматриваются как содержащие двойное отрицание несмотря на наличие двух отрицаний. В целом, лучше перефразировать такие предложения, чтобы избежать возможного неправильного понимания, которое могут вызвать два отрицания. Например:

Мне не нравится, что мне не говорят правду. – Мне не нравится, когда мне не говорят правду.

Я не возражаю (против того, чтобы) не смотреть этот фильм. – Я не особенно хочу смотреть этот фильм.

Они ждали его; он не мог не пойти. – Они ждали его; он должен был пойти.

Как правило, такие конструкции с двумя отрицаниями более выразительны, чем обычные утвердительные конструкции с похожим значением. В целом, изучающим язык желательно употреблять обычные конструкции в обычных ситуациях. Сравните эти примеры:

Они использовали абсолютно все средства в поисках пропавшего ребёнка. – Они сделали всё, что могли, в поисках пропавшего ребёнка.

Его действия не были полностью бескорыстными. – У него был свой собственный личный интерес в этом.

Примечание: Пословицы

Многочисленные примеры употребления отрицательных конструкций можно найти в английских пословицах. Некоторые пословицы существуют в отрицательных и утвердительных вариантах. (См. Russian and English Proverbs в разделе Idioms.)

Не всё то золото, что блестит.

Не ошибается тот, кто ничего не делает.

Нет дыма без огня.

Что сделано, того нельзя отменить. – Что сделано, то сделано.

Дополнительный материал: Сравнение NO и NOT

NO выражает отсутствие (He has no money), несогласие (No, I don’t), отказ (No, thank you). NOT меняет значение на противоположное (He does not like it; It is not funny).

NO употребляется перед существительными (He has no friends; She has no time); перед герундием (No smoking); в откликах (No, thank you); перед некоторыми местоимениями (There is no other way; I’ll do no such thing); перед сравнительной степенью прилагательных и наречий (She has no more money; He is no older than you are; We can wait no longer).

NOT употребляется перед основными глаголами (He does not work; He is not sleeping); в откликах (No, I’m not; No, she doesn’t); перед существительными (He is not a doctor; These are not toys); перед артиклями (not a lot; not the best); перед некоторыми местоимениями (not all of them; not many; not this one); перед прилагательными (He is not rich; It’s not ready); перед наречиями (not now; not very well); перед предлогами (not in winter; not on Monday).

NOT часто сокращается с вспомогательным глаголом (he doesn’t work; he hasn’t read this book; he isn’t sleeping; he isn’t a doctor; he isn’t rich; it isn’t funny). NOT не сокращается в «I am not; I’m not».

Похожие случаи употребления NO и NOT перед существительными, местоимениями, прилагательными и наречиями описаны ниже.

NO и NOT перед существительными

Перед существительными, NO имеет значение «not a; not any». NO употребляется перед исчисляемым существительным в ед. или мн. числе и перед неисчисляемым существительным.

«Not a» употребляется перед исчисляемым существительным в ед. числе; «not any» употребляется перед исчисляемым существительным во мн. числе и перед неисчисляемым существительным.

В таких случаях, NO и NOT могут употребляться в одних и тех же ситуациях. В обычных ситуациях предпочтительно отрицание вспомогательного глагола с помощью NOT, т.к. NO может звучать эмфатически. (NO подчёркивает полное отсутствие.)

У них нет автомобиля.

У неё (совсем) нет друзей. – У неё нет друзей.

У него (совсем) нет денег. – У него нет денег.

Я не нашёл (совсем никакой) информации об этом. – Я не нашёл (никакой) информации об этом.

Эмфатическое значение NO

NO может иметь следующее эмфатическое значение: «совсем не; далеко не». NOT не имеет таких значений. Сравните:

Он совсем не дурак. Он далеко не гений.

Он совсем не учитель. (Значение: Он не хороший учитель. т.е. он не умеет преподавать)

Он не учитель. (Значение: Он не учитель по профессии.)

Обратите внимание на фразу «be not much of»: Он весьма посредственный учитель / повар / писатель. Обед был весьма посредственный.

NO и NOT после «there is, there are»

NO и NOT часто употребляются после «there is, there are», обычно без заметной разницы в значении. NOT обычно в сокращённой форме после «there is; there are».

Во многих случаях, предпочтительно употребление NO после «there is, there are». Есть много устойчивых выражений и пословиц с «there is no».

В холодильнике нет молока.

В комнате нет стульев.

На стоянке не было автомобилей.

Нет правила без исключения.

В этом нет смысла.

Нет необходимости кричать.

NO и NOT перед подлежащим

NO употребляется перед подлежащим, выраженным исчисляемым существительным в ед. или мн. числе или неисчисляемым существительным.

Ни один учебник не может объяснить все правила.

Никакие машины (т.е. ни одна) не были проданы вчера.

Никто из студентов не присутствовал на лекции.

(Никакая) Информация об этом никогда не была опубликована.

NOT (т.е. «not a») может употребляться перед подлежащим, выраженным исчисляемым существительным в ед. числе, с значением «not even one» (ни один, ни единый).

Ни один звук не доносился из-за двери.

Примечание: «Not any» обычно не употребляется перед подлежащим в начале предложения. Употребите NO как в примерах выше, т.е. «No cars; No information» и т.д.

Другие похожие случаи с NO и NOT

NO и NOT перед местоимениями

NOT употребляется перед местоимениями «all; everyone; many; much», часто в начале предложения перед подлежащим.

Не все знают об этом.

Не все из них здесь.

Немногие студенты присутствовали.

Немногое можно сделать в этой ситуации.

Времени мало. Это не много.

NO употребляется перед местоимениями «other; such».

Никаких других опций (т.е. другого выбора) не было.

Другого пути / способа не было.

Я не буду делать ничего подобного!

Не бывает вечной жизни.

NO и NOT перед прилагательными и наречиями

NOT перед прилагательными и наречиями меняет их значение на противоположное.

Эта сумка не очень большая.

Ещё не слишком поздно изменить это.

Я разговаривал с ним не так давно.

NO употребляется перед прилагательными и наречиями в сравнительной степени.

Они больше не друзья.

Эта сумка не больше, чем та.

Мы должны выйти не позднее восьми.

Она больше не работает здесь.

До станции не менее мили.

NOT употребляется в тех случаях, где перед сравнительной степенью прилагательного или наречия стоит «much».

Сегодня не намного теплее, чем вчера.

Она печатает быстрее, чем я, но не намного быстрее.

Конструкции «as…as; not as…as» часто употребляются для сравнения качеств людей или вещей: Сегодня так же холодно, как вчера. Эта коробка не такая большая, как та. Он не такой высокий, как она. (См. «Constructions of comparison» в материале Degrees of Comparison в разделе Miscellany.)

Устойчивые выражения с NO и NOT

Некоторые устойчивые выражения с NO: no doubt; no idea; no comment; no hurry; no joke; no luck; no matter; no problem; no wonder; no kidding; no smoking; no parking; no later than; no less than; no longer; no better; no further; no sooner…than; no more; no more than; no other than; by no means; in no hurry; in no time; on no account; no other way.

Некоторые устойчивые выражения с NOT: not a bit; not a chance; not at all; not any longer; not any more; not bad; not bad at all; not a bad idea; not good; not so good; not really; not in the least; not long ago; not enough; not much; not only…but also; not surprisingly; not to mention; not to say; not to worry; not without reason; not worth it; not yet; why not.

• #1

Is it a universal trend to use «without» when we put a gerund into negative? For example:

English:
I did it knowing what would happen.
I did it without knowing what would happen.

Catalan:
Ho vaig fer sabent què passaria.
Ho vaig fer sense saber què passaria.

Spanish:
Lo hice sabiendo qué pasaría.
Lo hice sin saber qué pasaría.

How would you translate these sentences? Thanks!

• #2

German doesn’t really use gerund constructions but the closest equivalent is probably a combination with the present participle. The negated version is formed with nicht («not»):
— Ich tat es, wissend, was passieren würde.
— Ich tat es, nicht wissend, was passieren würde.

There is another, more idiomatic way to form the negated sentence — and in this case, ohne («without») is used:
— Ich tat es ohne zu wissen, was passieren würde.
Lit. «I did it without to know (infinitive) what happen (infintive) would»

Last edited: Nov 28, 2015

• #3

Unfortunately Japanese language doesn’t really have similar phrases like English, Catalan and Spanish. What I can think about that is as follows:

I did it knowing what would happen.
何が起きるのか分かっていながらも、私はそれをやり通した。(lit. Although knowing what would happen, I did it through)

I did it without knowing what would happen.
何が起きるのか分からず、私はそれをやり通した。 (lit. Unable to know what would happen, I did it through)
何が起きるのか知らされることもなく、私はそれをやり通した。 (lit . Without a thing that someone let me know what would happen, I did it through)
In second, without a thing that(～こともなく) is a common expression in Japanese sentences e.g. 彼は謝ることもなく、最後まで意地を張り通した。(without his apologizing[lit. without a thing that he apologizes], he ended up sticking to his opinion to the last).

• #4

Greek:

«Το έκανα γνωρίζοντας τι θα γίνει» [to ˈekana ɣnoˈɾizondas ti θa ˈʝini] —> lit. I did it knowing what will happen.
«Γνωρίζοντας» [ɣnoˈɾizondas] is the uninflected MoGr active gerund («knowing») of the active v. « γνωρίζω» [ɣnoˈɾizo] < Classical v. «γνωρίζω» gnōrízō —> to make known, become acquainted with (PIE *ǵneh₃- to recognise, get to know cf Lat. (g)nōscēre, Proto-Germanic *kunnaną > Ger. können, Eng. can/cunning, Dt. kunnen; Alb. njoh, to know).

«Το έκανα μη γνωρίζοντας τι θα γίνει» [to ˈekana mi ɣnoˈɾizondas ti θa ˈʝini] —> I did it without knowing what will happen.
The negation particle «μη, μην» [mi] & [min] (the latter is for euphonic reasons) is used primarily in subjunctive contexts.
Note that Greek has two distinct negation particles, «δε(ν)» [ðe(n)] (used in clauses with indicative mood) and «μη(ν)» [mi(n)] which is a particularly archaic feature in Greek, continuing an old prohibitive negation marker inherited from PIE: «Mη(ν)» < Classical negation particle «μή(ν)» mḗ(n) —> not, that not (PIE *meh₁- cf Skt. मा ‎(mā), Av./ToA/B mā, Arm. մի ‎(mi), Alb. mo).

• #5

I’d translate it like this (without gerund):

Megtettem, bár tudtam, mi fog történni. [bár tudtam — although I knew]
Megtettem, bár nem tudtam, mi fog történni. [bár nem tudtam although I din’t know]

I’m not even able to translate it using gerund in Hungarian [the gerund would be «tudva» or «tudván» — I don’t speak like it]

• #6

Finnish

Tein sen tietäen, mitä tapahtuisi. tietäen is 2nd infinitive (E-infinitive) in instructive case.
Tein sen tietämättä, mitä tapahtuisi. tietämättä is 3rd infinitive (MA-infinitive) in abessive case. The meaning of abessive case is «without«.

• #7

Is it a universal trend to use «without» when we put a gerund into negative?

Czech language doesn’t have a gerund.

• #8

English:
I did it knowing what would happen.
I did it without knowing what would happen.

Swedish:
Jag gjorde det medveten om vad som skulle hända — I did it knowing what would happen
Jag gjorde det omedveten om vad som skulle hända — I did it knowing what would happen
Jag gjorde det utan att veta (or vara medveten om) vad som skulle hända — I did it without know (or be knowing about) what would happen
—
Swedish have to use medveten om for knowing here, (att) veta means (to) know, and the med- is with, so medveten would be with knowing. To make a word negative/the opposite we can often use o- (un-), or use utan att — without.

• #9

Czech language doesn’t have a gerund.

So how would you translate the sentences?

• #10

I’d translate it like this (without gerund):

Megtettem, bár tudtam, mi fog történni. [bár tudtam — although I knew]
Megtettem, bár nem tudtam, mi fog történni. [bár nem tudtam although I din’t know]

I’m not even able to translate it using gerund in Hungarian [the gerund would be «tudva» or «tudván» — I don’t speak like it]

What about “Megtettem, anélkül hogy tudnám, mi fog történni”? [anélkül hogy tudnám — without that I would know]

Oh, I forgot: Italian, like Spanish and Catalan of course.

• #11

What about “Megtettem, anélkül hogy tudnám, mi fog történni”? [anélkül hogy tudnám — without that I would know]…

I think it is grammatically correct, but there’s something fishy about it… maybe: anélkül, hogy tudtam volna… but there’s still no gerund…

• #12

So how would you translate the sentences?

There are more ways how to say it, of course, but these 2 sentences sound very good to me:

I did it knowing what would happen. — Udělal jsem to s vědomím toho, co se stane.
I did it without knowing what would happen. — Udělal jsem to, aniž bych věděl, co se stane.

• #13

Haitian Creole:
Mwen te fè li an konsyans de kisa t’ap rive. = Literally: I did it with the knowledge of what would happen. A bit clunky though.
A little more natural:
Menm konnen kisa t’ap rive, mwen te fè li. = Literally: Even knowing what would happen, I did it.
Mwen te fè li san m konnen kisa t’ap rive. = Literally: I did it without knowing what would happen.

• #14

Macedonian:

1. I did it knowing what would happen — Го сторив тоа знаејќи што ќе се случи

«знаејќи» here is an adverbial participle of «знае» (to know), comparable to English «knowing» (within the relevant context).

2. I did it not knowing what would happen — Го строив тоа не знаејќи што ќе се случи

«не знаејќи» (often written as one word, which prescriptive rules label as incorrect, it would appear) here is just a negated form of «знаејќи»; the particle «не» is a plain negator which we use in both indicative and subjunctive/imperative constructions (we don’t have a special negator equivalent to the Greek «μη(ν)» or Albanian «mos»).

3. I did it without knowing what would happen — Го сторив тоа без да знам што ќе се случи

«без да знам» here is a finite subordinate clause with a subjunctive verb, «да знам» (subjunctive particle «да» + first person singular present of «знае»), functioning as a complement of the preposition «без» («without»); it can semi-literally be translated into English as «without that I (should) know»; it corresponds roughly to the French «sans que je sache» and exactly to the Romanian «fără să știu», I believe (native/proficient speaker confirmation would be desirable).

Conclusion: Macedonian uses «without» in the construction which is the topic of this thread, but it doesn’t have a gerund equivalent to the English one, or an infinitive equivalent to the French, Italian, Spanish, etc., ones.

• #15

English:
I did it knowing what would happen.
I did it without knowing what would happen.

Chinese:
我做了，而我知道會怎樣 I did (it), and I knew what would happen.
我不知道會怎樣就做了 I, not knowing what would happen, did (it).
(It is strongly recommended that you replace 做(do) with the verb of what «I» is actually doing, which is more natural)

There is no specific word in Chinese equivalent to without, the translation depends on the context, for example, when it means «not having (lacking)», the word would be 沒有 (not have); when it means «not having the use or benefit of» or «not needing, it’s 不用 (not use); when it means «not Ving»
Other possibilities include: 不帶(not accompanied/coupled with), 不(not Ving), 未(having not Vpp), 沒有(not Ving (all the while)), 無(+noun), etc.

• #16

Is it a universal trend to use «without» when we put a gerund into negative? For example:
….

I do not think this is a grammatical negative. The gerund is due to the position after a preposition (‘without’). The gerund is just a substantivised verb… But the other -ing form is a present participle, referring to the subject of the main clause. You are right though that these are semantic antonyms and apparently you are using the same forms but I doubt it as for example we in Dutch have to use two different verb forms.

elroy

Moderator: EHL, Arabic, Hebrew, German(-Spanish)

• #17

Arabic:

فعلت ذلك وأنا عالم ماذا سيحدث or فعلت ذلك على علم بماذا سيحدث
فعلت ذلك دون أن أعلم ماذا سيحدث

— Ich tat es, wissend, was passieren würde.
— Ich tat es, nicht wissend, was passieren würde.[/QUOTE] Are these natural? They both sound very strange to me.

• #18

BTW: the German word is a present participle, not a gerund. So again: the gerund is not common in many languages, we have for instanc ean inf. but no gerund in Dutch. .

• #19

@elroy @ThomasK
Of course it’s true that the German construction with the present participle isn’t really idiomatic, and it isn’t a gerund either but it is «grammatically possible» and probably the closest equivalent to a gerund German has to offer… Normally we would say:

— Ich tat es ohne zu wissen, was passieren würde.
Lit. «I did it without to know (infinitive) what happen (infintive) would

elroy

Moderator: EHL, Arabic, Hebrew, German(-Spanish)

• #20

What about the positive version? Ich tat es und wusste dabei, was passieren würde? Ich tat es mit vollem Wissen, was passieren würde?

• #21

What about the positive version? Ich tat es und wusste dabei, was passieren würde? Ich tat es mit vollem Wissen, was passieren würde?

Yes, I think that would be the best way to express it (a construction with the present participle would be possible but unusual: Ich tat es, wissend, was passieren würde.)

Edit: or im Bewusstsein dessen, was passieren würde (a rather ‘posh’ version…)

Pronouns are part of speech used instead of nouns and sometimes adjectives. They indicate a person, an object, a sign and a quantity, without naming it. In a sentence, a pronoun can be a subject, part of a predicate, an object, or an attribute. 

There are several groups of pronouns in English, one of which is negative pronouns. They are used to indicate the absence of any qualities, items, or attributes. Negative pronouns include: 

no — none 

none — nobody 

nobody — no one 

no one — no one, not one 

neither — neither, neither one nor the other 

nothing — nothing 

Use of negative pronouns 

1. The pronouns no and neither do not have the category of gender, number and case. They are placed before the nouns they define, which are used without articles, possessive or demonstrative pronouns.

• I really need to go now. There’s no time left to waste it.  
• There are no more cheesecakes for you today. You’ve had enough.  
• Neither color suits to the pale face of yours.  

2. Provided there is a negative pronoun in the sentence, the verb predicate will be in the affirmative form, since the rule of double negation applies in English. Accordingly, if the predicate is in a negative form, then an indefinite pronoun will be used.

• He just sat there and did nothing.(negative pronoun with affirmative verb) 
• He just sat there and didn’t do anything. What a lazy man! (indefinite pronoun in the negative form of the verb) 

p.s. The double negative rule states that you cannot have two negative words in the same sentence. That is, either a negative particle or a negative pronoun will be used. 

3. The pronoun no will not be used as a noun pronoun (instead, none will be used, replacing both singular and plural countable nouns, as well as uncountable nouns).

• Are there any fruits left in the fridge for me today? – No, there are none, sorry.  
• Is there any gluten in this cake? – No, there’s none.  

4. Before object pronouns (personal pronouns in the object case us, them) or this, the, my, none + of will be used. When this pronoun is used with a plural noun, the verb can be singular or plural. In this case, the use of the verb in the singular will have a more formal connotation.

• None of my friends wanted to go out in such a bad weather.  
• None of his business partners have/has seen that contract.  

5. Derivatives from no, such as no one, nobody, nothing, are formed using the constructions no + -thing/-body/-one.

• What are you doing? – Nothing.  
• Who helped you with your assignment this time? – Nobody.  
• Have you seen anyone on your way home? – No one.  

Pronouns are a pretty easy topic, and the only problem with using negative pronouns is with no, because our brains aren’t used to seeing it as a pronoun. For us, this is primarily a negative word. But, in fact, all other negative pronouns are derived from no