Not

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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 No.


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

  • the "o" of not
  • the "a" of are (You're, We're, They're)
  • the "a" of am (I'm (I am))
  • the "ha" of have (I've (I have))
  • the "i" of is (it's (It is))

or it represents possession: Sofiane's / Luke's / Zeke's / Mohammed's / the students' notebooks.

a third case in literature: represent missing sounds more generally.

(cf. genitive case)</p>

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.