English grammar - Roger Berry 2012
A7.1 Negatives and interrogatives
A7 Varying the verb phrase
Section A. Introduction
In A6 we looked at the formation of basic verb phrases, involving the use of auxiliaries to form progressive and perfect aspects, as well as the passive, in combination with tense. In this section we will look at further manipulation of the verb phrase in order to form interrogatives and negatives and combinations of them. Auxiliaries and verbs behave differently in this respect and so they will be discussed separately. The place of contractions is also examined.
Terminology
You may be familiar with the term ’question’ rather than ’interrogative’. However, the meaning of ’question’ is fairly vague in popular usage, so it is normal to use ’interrogative’ instead, as it refers precisely to the forms that are being described below. There is also a difference between form and function here. Interrogatives function as questions, but not all questions are interrogative in form, e.g.
It’s raining? (a declarative question)
(In writing the question mark is the only indicator of a question; in speech this would be matched by a rising intonation.) Here we are interested in sentences that change their structure. Declarative questions are discussed in B9.
A7.1 Negatives and interrogatives
Negatives and interrogatives with auxiliaries
If there is a modal or primary auxiliary in the verb phrase then negatives are formed by placing not after the auxiliary; if there is more than one auxiliary, it is placed after the first one:
I am not lying. (the negative of the present progressive)
You have not done it. (the negative of the present perfect)
They will not do it. (the negative of the modal will)
It was not being done. (the negative of the past progressive passive)
When not is placed after can it is usually written as one word: cannot (can not is also found in American English).
Interrogatives are formed by the ’inversion’ of the auxiliary and the subject - that is, by swapping their positions:
Can you do it? (the interrogative of You can do it.)
Have they finished it? (the interrogative of They have finished it.)
(Note that inversion has other limited functions in English; see A11.)
This section only deals with one type of interrogative/question, the so-called yes/ no questions, since they are the direct counterparts of positive (declarative) sentences. Other types, such as wh- and tag questions, are dealt with in B9.
Negatives and interrogatives with verbs
Historically, English formed the negative and interrogative of verbs in the same way as for auxiliaries: by adding not and by inverting respectively. You may sometimes encounter archaic forms such as I know not, I like it not.
However, in modern English, verbs are not allowed to invert with the subject and cannot have not placed after them (for an apparent exception to this see pro-forms in B11). If there is no auxiliary, a ’dummy’ auxiliary, do, is introduced into the verb phrase. This is then used for inversion and for attaching not:
Do you know?
I do not know.
In this situation, do is the finite verb form (see A5). So any third person or tense ending is transferred to it (as does or did) and the verb is changed to the infinitive. Thus
She likes it.
I hated it.
become
She does not like it and Does she like it?
I did not hate it and Did you hate it?
It is also possible to use do for emphasis, i.e. to say
She does like it. I did hate it.
These might be used to contradict suggestions that ’she does not like it’ or that ’I did not hate it’.
When they are used as verbs, be, do and have behave differently from each other. Be is treated like an auxiliary (i.e. there is no need for do):
We are strong. We are not strong. Are we strong? (Not ’Do we be strong?’) Though it may sound strange, do uses the dummy auxiliary do:
I did it. I did not do it. Did I do it?
Have can function either way. It is common with do:
We have the time. We do not have the time. Do we have the time?
It rarely behaves like an auxiliary; if it does then in the negative a contraction would be usual:
We haven’t the time (rather than We have not . . .). Have we the time?
Activity A7.1
Turn the following sentences into the corresponding negative and interrogative.
1. I have been unwell.
2. They believed me.
3. I do yoga once a week.
4. He should have listened to me.
Negatives with modals
The interaction of modal auxiliaries with negatives produces some strange results. For example, must not is not the negative in meaning of must. We can see this if we compare it to the corresponding semi-modal, have to; thus
I do not have to do it.
does not mean
I must not do it.
The former means there is a lack of obligation, while the latter means there is an obligation not to do it. In other words the negation is transferred to the following verb. We can also see this if we ask a question about obligation:
Must I come? - No, you don’t have to. (Not No, you must not.)
Other modals behave in the same way. May, for example, has both types of negation:
You may not smoke. (= negation of permission, ’you are not allowed to smoke’)
They may not be here. (= negation of be, ’it is possible that they are not here’) Similarly, can’t have is the ’negative’ of must have when used extrinsically (see B6) to express a negative possibility:
He must have done it. - No, he cant have. (= ’it is not possible . . .)