| Uncontracted | Contracted | |
| They’ve come. | They have not come. | They’ve not come. They haven’t come. |
| Tom is arriving tomorrow. | Tom is not arriving tomorrow. | Tom isn’t arriving tomorrow. Tom’s not arriving tomorrow. (The 1st form is more common.) |
| You ought to have come. | You ought not to have come at all. | You oughtn’t to have come at all. |
Note that the contracted negative forms of can and will are can’t and won’t and the uncontracted negative of can is cannot. The corresponding forms of shall are shall not and shan’t.
| He will be late. I can come early. I shall come early. | He will not be late. I cannot come early. I shall not come early | He’ll not be late. He won’t be late. I can’t come early. I shan’t come early. |
Only the full negative form is possible for the first person singular of the verb to be in declarative sentences, I'т not late, the form ain’t being used only in dialects and uneducated forms of English. However, the verb contraction I'т is possible.
If the predicate verb is in the present or past indefinite, the auxiliary do is used with not to form the negative.
| I like that idea. He understands you well. | I do not like that idea. He does not understand you at all. | I don’t like that idea. He doesn’t understand you at all. |
As a rule, a sentence can contain only one negator. Not is usually , attached to the predicate verb, and other negative words are unnecessary in the sentence, unlike similar cases in Russian.
| I don’t know anything about it. (one negator) I didn’t say anything to anybody. (one negator) | Я ничего не знала об этом. (two negators) Я никому ничего не сказала. (three negators) |
In negative questions the place of the negator not depends on whether it is contracted or uncontracted. The contracted form n’t is not separated from the auxiliary or modal verb, whereas the uncontracted not comes after the subject. The latter is more formal.
| Don’t you see? Can’t you come with me? Haven’t you finished your letter? | Do you not see? Can you not come with me? Have you not finished your letter? |
Negative questions are often used as
a) exclamations.
Isn’t it funny! (= It is very funny!)
Aren’t* I tired! (= I am very tired)
* This is the first-person form of the verb to be in negative questions in British English.
b) invitations.
Won’t you come in and have a cup of tea?
In answer to negative questions yes and no are used according to the facts and not according to the form of the question.
Haven’t you seen the film? - Yes (I have seen it). Or: No (I haven’t seen it).
Isn’t it raining? - Yes (it is raining). Or: No (it isn’t raining).
Compare with the Russian:
| Дождь не идет? | - Нет, идет. - Да, не идет. |
In imperative sentences not follows the do-auxiliary.
Do not speak so loudly.
Don’t worry.
The same is used for the negative imperative with the verb to be.
Don’t be so rude.
Don’t be lazy.
§ 25. Not can be attached to other parts of the sentence, not only the predicate verb. In this case it comes before the word or phrase it negates.
It’s here, not upstairs.
It’s a tiger, not a cat.
The operation was quick, but not carefully planned.
The question is important and not easy to answer.
Negative infinitives are made by putting not or never before the infinitive (and before the paricle to if there is one). Negative ing-forms are made in the same way.
It was impossible not to invite the Butlers.
He left never to return.
He was desperate at not having seen her.
§ 26. In short answers or orders with the verbs of mental activity think, believe, hope, suppose, be afraid and after the conjunction if the negator not may replace the sentence or clause it negates.
Will it rain today? - I hope not.
Can you come today? – I’m afraid not.
Drop that gun! If not, you’ll be sorry.
§ 27. After the verbs of mental activity think, believe, suppose and imagine the negation which belongs to the object clause is transferred to the principal clause. This is called transferred negation.
I don’t think you've heard about it (= I think you haven’t heard about it).
I don’t believe he has come (= I believe he hasn’t come).
I don’t suppose any one will learn about it (= I suppose no one will learn about it).
Compare with the Russian:
I don’t think you are right. - Думаю, что вы не правы.
§ 28. Besides not there are other words that can serve as negators and make the sentence negative. They are: no, nobody, nothing, nowhere, none (of) no one, and also neither (of), never and the conjunction neither... nor.
No sensible man would say that.
Nobody knows about it.
None of the applicants were German.
He has nothing to say.
He was nowhere to be found.
He never gets up early.
Neither of the statements is true.
I saw neither you nor your wife.
No is a determiner and is used with a noun when it has no other determiner (neither an article nor a possessive or demonstrative pronoun).
No is the usual negator with a noun subject after there is/are, and with a noun object after the predicate verb have.
There are no letters in the letter-box today.
I have no relatives in this city.
No can add emphasis to the sentence, implying the opposite of what is expressed by the word that follows.
He is no fool (= He is a clever man).
He showed no great skill (= He showed very little skill).
He had no small part in its success! (= He had a large part...)
This is no unimportant question (== It is really an important question).
She is no teacher (= She is a bad teacher).
In the same way never may add emphasis to the sentence and is often used in colloquial speech.
That will never do.
I should never have believed it.
Why did you sign those documents? - But I never did. (Я ничего не подписывал.)
Surely you never told him about it! (Ты не мог ему это сказать!)
If there is an article or a possessive or demonstrative pronoun before the noun, none of or neither of is used with the same meaning as no (see the above examples).
Neither of the books is of any use to me.
I want none of these things.
None can be used without a noun as a noun substitute.
You have money, but I have none.
Bad advice is worse than none at all.
§ 29. Besides negators there are other words that make a sentence negative in meaning. They are:
seldom, rarely... (= not often);
hardly, scarcely, barely... (= almost... not, hardly ever, scarcely ever).
As they also make the whole sentence negative they have the same effect on the sentence as other negators, that is exclude other negators.
a) The pronoun some and its derivatives are changed to any or its derivatives.
The rain continued with scarcely any pause.
He hardly thinks of anything else.
b) The adverbs sometimes and already are changed to ever and yet respectively.
Mrs. Greene hardly ever plays tennis now.
c) They are generally followed by positive, not negative, tag question.
She scarcely seems to care, does she?
Little and few have the same effect on sentences.
There’s little point in doing anything about it, is there?
§ 30. Double negatives are sometimes possible in standard English, but only if both negative words have their full meaning and this serves for the sake of emphasis.
You’ve no reason not to trust me.
Do you think Julius will try to see you? - No, he won’t. But he won’t try not to either.
She wouldn’t like to live in a place not so nice.
John hadn’t been a crime reporter for nothing.
Not only would he do nothing to advance them; he impeded them.
It’s not only not important, it’s not a fact.
In standard English double negatives, rare as they are, may neutralize each other and then the ultimate meaning of the sentence is positive.
You’ve no reason not to trust me (= You must trust me).
I just couldn’t do nothing (= I had to do something).
By removing one of the negators the sentence is made negative in meaning.
I just could do nothing.
§ 31. Almost every sentence can be divided into certain components which are called parts of the sentence. Parts of the sentence are usually classified into main and secondary. The main parts of the sentence are the subject and the prediсate. They constitute the backbone of the sentence. The secondary parts of the sentence are the object, the attribute, the apposition and the adverbial modifier. The secondary parts of the sentence modify the main parts or each other.
Besides these two kinds of sentence components there are so-called independent elements, that is, elements standing outside the structure of the sentence, and therefore of lesser importance. The independent elements are parenthesis and direct address.
Ways of expressing parts of the sentence
§ 32. Any part of the sentence may be expressed in four ways, that is, by a single word-form or a word-form preceded by a formal word, by a phrase, by a predicative complex, or by a clause. The only exception is the verbal predicate which can be neither a predicative complex nor a clause.
Word-forms
§ 33. A word-form is any form of the grammatical paradigm of the word. Girl, girls, girl’s, girls'; to write, writes, wrote, is writing, has been written, will have been writing, etc.; pale, paler; brilliant, more brilliant, most brilliant are all word-forms.
As seen from the above a word-form may contain either one component or more than one. One-component word-forms are various synthetic forms of the word, while multi-component word-forms are analytical forms of the word which are composed of оne or more auxiliary components and one notional component. The auxiliary components may be verbs (be, have, do, shall, will), adverbs (more, most), particles (to).
Note:
In grammar we usually deal with word-forms, not words, though it is customary to make use of the term
“word” in the sense of “word-form” as well. So in the following chapters both these terms will be used in
the sense of “word-form”, “word-form” being more exact, “word” having the advantage of being shorter.
Phrases
§ 34. A phrase is a group of two or more notional words functioning as a whole. Besides notional words a phrase may contain one or more formal words. Compare: to see her - to look at her.
Depending on the relation between its components, phrases may be divided into two kinds: phrases which are divisible both syntactically and semantically, and phrases which are indivisible either syntactically or semantically, or both.
Phrases which are divisible both syntactically and semantically
§ 35. Phrases of this kind contain a headword and one or more word-forms dependent on it. Here the following kinds of phrases may be distinguished: nominal, verbal, adjectival, adverbial and statival phrases.
1. In nominal phrases the headword is a noun, a noun-pronoun, or a numeral modified by one or more word-forms. The latter are mostly adjectives, nouns, or pronouns with prepositions, although they may be participles or infinitives. They may have dependent words of their own: a new way, a very good friend, a recently built house, the years to come, etc.; something curious, anything so unexpected, everybody staying here, all of them, nothing to say; tire first of May, the second to enter, etc. Their relation to the headword is attributive. Phrases of this kind function as nouns treated separately.
| The man sat on the sofa. (subject and adverbial modifier expressed by nouns) | The old man was sitting in a big armchair. (subject and adverbial modifier expressed by nominal phrases) |
2. In verbal phrases the headword is a verbal which has one or more word-forms dependent on it. The latter are mostly nouns, noun-pronouns, or adverbs, each of which may have its own dependent words: to know him, to see her again, going home in the evening, speaking a foreign language. In all these phrases syntactical relations between the headwords and dependent words are either objective (him, her, a language) or adverbial (again, home, in the evening). Phrases of this kind function according to the nature of their headwords, that is, in the same way as their headwords do when used separately.
| To see is to believe. (subject expressed by an infinitive) | To see you here is a real pleasure. (subject expressed by an infinitive phrase) |
| Do you like swimming? (object expressed by a gerund) | I hate swimming in cold water. (object expressed by a gerundial phrase) |
3. In adjective phrases the headword is an adjective which has some words dependent on it. They are usually adverbs or nouns with a preposition, or an infinitive. These may have dependent words of their own: quite true, too big, wonderfully clever, kind enough, absent from classes, true to his word, unable to say a word, etc. Their relation to the headword is either adverbial (where the dependent word is an adverb) or objective (where the dependent word is a noun with a preposition or an infinitive). Such phrases perform the same functions as adjectives used alone.