The Communicative Grammar of English Workbook - Edward Woods, Rudy Coppieters 2002
13.8. Denial and affirmation 1
Unit thirteen. Information, reality and belief
Sections 261-262; 581-585; 610-611; 697-699
The truth of something can be denied by using a negative sentence containing one of the negative items not, no, nowhere, nothing, etc. The element not, or its contracted form n’t, is put immediately after the operator. When there is no operator the auxiliary do is introduced as operator.
The part of a sentence which follows the negative word is the scope of the negation, i.e. the part which is negated. A final adverbial may or may not be in the scope of negation. Inside the scope of negation are words like any, yet, ever. Outside of it are words like some, already, sometimes.
Negative determiners and pronouns are often replaceable by not/n’t ... any. Other negative words can often be replaced in similar ways.
Task one *
Deny the truth of the following sentences in a formal and at least one informal way.
Example: We are going to the theatre tonight.
→ We are not going to the theatre tonight.
We aren’t going to the theatre tonight. / We’re not going to the theatre tonight.
1. I have been here before.
2. We will be running out of money shortly.
3. Charles teaches English to Asian immigrants.
4. We had received an invitation from the local council.
5. Some people like watching soap operas.
6. I would buy a holiday cottage if I were you.
7. Jessica is being stalked by her ex-boyfriend.
8. Bill has been listening to the concert.
9. David struck me as a very dedicated young man.
10 They built a new tunnel to link the two islands.
11. I shall see the leading actress after the performance.
12. Our gardener cut down the big chestnut trees.
Task two **
Paraphrase the following pairs of sentences to bring out the difference in meaning.
Example: a. Peter definitely hasn’t taken the job.
b. Peter hasn’t definitely taken the job.
→ a. It’s definite that he hasn’t taken the job.
b. It’s not definite that he has taken the job.
1 a. I truly can’t believe what happened last night.
b. I can’t truly believe what happened last night.
2 a. Jim particularly doesn’t like his mother-in-law’s fruitcakes.
b. Jim doesn’t particularly like his mother-in-law’s fruitcakes.
3 a. Smoking clearly isn’t forbidden in this canteen.
b. Smoking isn’t clearly forbidden in this canteen.
4 a. Frank really doesn’t know why Paula is so upset.
b. Frank doesn’t really know why Paula is so upset.
5 a. We possibly couldn’t come tomorrow.
b. We couldn’t possibly come tomorrow.
Task three ***
Explain the ambiguity in each of the following sentences by paraphrasing the two meanings and referring to the scope of ’not’.
Example: The suspect wasn’t seen near the scene of the crime.
→ (a) The suspect was (probably) not seen anywhere else either.
(scope of ’not’: ’seen’)
(b) The suspect was seen somewhere else.
(scope of ’not’: ’seen near the scene of the crime’)
1. The applicants were not interviewed by the human resources officer.
2. I haven’t discussed the children’s future with my wife.
3. The opposition is not going to stage a demonstration next week.
4. I didn’t offend Patricia by telling her she looked a bit under the weather.
5. I don’t vote for the New Democrats to please my dad.
6. The patient didn’t suffer any pain while she was in hospital.
7. The local party leader was not re-elected as a result of a smear campaign.
8. Monica didn’t get injured when she collided with the van.
9. I haven’t been able to contact Jack on my mobile phone.
10. I didn’t want to see Sylvia because I felt depressed.
Task four ***
(a) Decide whether the underlined word is inside OR outside the scope of not / n’t.
(b) Paraphrase the sentences without changing their meaning.
1. I haven’t seen some of the famous Walt Disney films.
2. Alice hasn’t visited the Taj Mahal yet.
3. We hadn’t ever been notified of the health risks involved.
4. Young Mr Plimsoll doesn’t sometimes attend Professor Barnaby’s lectures.
5. There wasn’t anybody around to show me the way to the boardroom.
6. Look, it’s not as if we didn’t already have enough problems.
7. The problem with Terry is that he will not sometimes listen to what I’m saying.
8. The suspect said he hadn’t got anything to do with the recent spate of burglaries.
9. There isn’t yet a sign that relations between the two countries are improving.
10. This untalented and boorish ’artist’ shouldn’t ever be allowed in here again.
11. We haven’t seen some of the applicants yet.
12. The relief bus can’t already have arrived to pick up any of the stranded passengers.
Task five **
Complete the following text by adding one of the following negative words:
few
little
neither
never
no
nobody
none
nor
nothing
nowhere
rarely
scarcely
As I was looking for the fruit juice this morning, I found there was ... any left in the refrigerator. I wondered why there was so ... of it so early in the week, but ... Pam ... Ruth could give a reasonable explanation. “Well,” I sighed, “I suppose there’s ... to be done about it.”
Going back to the refrigerator, I also found that there were very ... oranges left. And as for grapefruits, there were ... whatsoever. This was something that had ... happened before. I was about to ask Pam and Ruth again, but they were ... to be seen any more. As I had ... to turn to now, I saw ... option but to hurry to the shop around the corner. ... had I felt so let down by my two roommates, sending me off to the grocer’s on an empty stomach like this.
Task six **
When you have completed the above text, try to express negation in an alternative way by using synonymous phrases where possible.
Example: I have nowhere to go these days.
→ I don’t have anywhere to go these days.