Difference between revisions of "Not"

From Creolista!
Jump to: navigation, search
(negation)
(negation)
Line 38: Line 38:
  
  
<p>Remember:  the apostrophe has two uses in English:  it represents a missing vowel:</p>
+
<p>Remember:  the apostrophe has two uses in English:  it represents a missing sound:
 
*the <span style="color:darkcyan;">o</span> of <span style="color:maroon;">n<u>o</u>t</span>
 
*the <span style="color:darkcyan;">o</span> of <span style="color:maroon;">n<u>o</u>t</span>
 
*the <span style="color:darkcyan;">i</span> of <span style="color:maroon;"><u>i</u>s</span> (it's, he's, she's, something's, there's)
 
*the <span style="color:darkcyan;">i</span> of <span style="color:maroon;"><u>i</u>s</span> (it's, he's, she's, something's, there's)
Line 47: Line 47:
 
*the <span style="color:darkcyan;">wi</span> of <span style="color:maroon;"><u>wi</u>ll</span>: they'll call back.
 
*the <span style="color:darkcyan;">wi</span> of <span style="color:maroon;"><u>wi</u>ll</span>: they'll call back.
  
 
+
or it represents possession:  Sofiane's / Luke's / Zeke's / Mohammed's / the students' notebooks.</p>
 
 
 
 
<p>or it represents possession:  Sofiane's / Luke's / Zeke's / Mohammed's / the students' notebooks.</p>
 
<p>a third case in literature:  represent missing sounds more generally.</p>
 
(cf. genitive case)</p>
 
  
 
=adverb=
 
=adverb=

Revision as of 02:09, 23 January 2014

negation

  • not becomes n't when attached to an auxiliary which is not itself abbreviated.
    • I've not heard much. // I haven't heard much.
    • I'm not sure. // I ain't going. (ain't is fairly widespread colloquial American)
  • I personally do not combine n't with may or might, though there is nothing particularly wrong with mightn't even if it is relatively infrequent. shan't is likewise rare.. (compare at google: couldn't // mayn't // shan't)

Usage rules are fairly strict. In formal writing abbreviations are to be avoided. The only accepted use of the apostrophe in formal writing is generally to indicate the possessive / genitive case. This is a prescriptivist, but pragmatically important, rule to know.

In written dialogue, the apostrophe is nevertheless common. An example:


Counselor: You couldn't have known that Doug wasn't coming.

Therapist: I didn't know; and I wouldn't have re-arranged my schedule if I hadn't thought he would be there.

Counselor: He hasn't been coming to those meetings for several weeks.

Therapist: I won't make the same mistake twice. Next time, if he isn't coming, I ain't going either!

Counselor: We should send the secretary a message Thursday, don't you think, just to confirm?

Therapist: Oh, you mustn't have heard, the secretary resigned yesterday.

Counselor: Oh no, he shouldn't have. I'm not surprised though. He wasn't happy about all the criticism last month. Things may not have been perfect, but at least things got done.

Therapist: Absolutely. Back to Doug again. Doesn't he have a cell phone?

Counselor: I'm not sure, I haven't got a number. I can't find his email address either.

Therapist: Speak of the devil. He's just texted me from, erm, jail.


. . .


Remember: the apostrophe has two uses in English: it represents a missing sound:

  • the o of not
  • the i of is (it's, he's, she's, something's, there's)
  • the a of are (You're, We're, They're)
  • the a of am (I'm (I am))
  • the ha of have, had (I've got a cold, If I'd known you were sick, ...)
  • the woul of would: I'd like some more please.
  • the wi of will: they'll call back.
or it represents possession: Sofiane's / Luke's / Zeke's / Mohammed's / the students' notebooks.

adverb

Negations of this sort are considered to be adverbs by almost all dictionaries, like the words yes and no. Some Indo-European examples:

  • nicht (Germ.)
  • non (Lat.)
  • pas (Fr.)
  • nje (не) (Russ.)

predeterminer

Some deny the existence of determiners (articles, demonstratives, quantifiers), so the idea that a grammatical class such as predeterminers should exist is not always welcomed easily, especially by those who teach what is known in France as la grammaire scolaire.

  • Not a one
  • Not everybody
  • not some time later (6m examples at Google, not a few of which are difficult to evaluate grammatically)
  • not a few of which
  • not the least of which

In any case, it is clear that the boundaries between adverbs and determination in the noun phrase (particularly deictic determination: today, tomorrow, this, that) are relatively fuzzy. At least four of the examples would clearly seem to be noun phrases.