English grammar - Roger Berry 2012

A7.4 Transfer of negation
A7 Varying the verb phrase
Section A. Introduction

Some verbs, when used in front of other verbs, may behave something like auxiliaries, in that negation is transferred to them when they are followed by a negative clause or infinitive. Thus

He seems not to know me. (formal)

I plan not to attend. (formal)

We thought you weren’t coming.

could also be expressed as

He doesn’t seem to know me.

I don’t plan to attend.

We didn’t think you were coming.

The meaning is the same. Not negates the idea of know, attend or coming, not seem, plan or think; the subjects are indeed ’seeming’, ’planning’ and ’thinking’.

Comments

Activity A7.1:

1. I have not been unwell. Have you been unwell?

2. They did not believe me. Did they believe me?

3. I do not do yoga once a week. Do you do yoga once a week?

4. He should not have listened to me. Should he have listened to me?

Activity A7.2:

1 ... is . . .

2 ... will . . . Some grammarians say that ’ll can also represent shall; a tag question (see B9) can suggest this: We’ll help them, shall we? but also We’ll help them, will we?

3 ... would . . . (see B6)

4 ... could not have . . . It is unusual to have a double contraction like this.

5 ... has . . .

Activity A7.3: You should end up with the following possibilities:

She is not coming. She’s coming.

She’s not coming. She isn’t coming.

Is she coming? Is she not coming?

Isn’t she coming?