Positive and negative tags

NEGATION

In the English sentence negation generally refers to the whole sentence. In this case the predicate verb is made negative:

We haven?t forgotten you.

It isn?t true.

We haven't come to disturb you, darling.

I don't go to the cinema to learn things.

Avoiding double negation

Ex.1.Correct the sentences all of which contain double negatives:

1. I don?t need no help. 2. I didn?t see nobody. 3. I can?t never understand him. 4, He doesn?t like neither coffee not tea. 5. I didn?t do nothing. 6. I can?t hardly hear the radio. Would you please turn it up. 7. The beach was deserted. We couldn?t see nothing but sand. 8. Methods of horse training haven?t barely changed at all in the last eight centuries.

The negative particle ?not? can also refer to:

1. non-finite forms of the verb:

It?s important not to worry.

I told her not to be late.

What I enjoy most on holiday is not working.

Not knowing what to do, I called the police.

2. other parts of a sentence:

Ask the vicar, not his wife.

Come early, but not before six.

It?s working, but not properly.

Not all the girls left early.

Words that make a sentence negative

1. The particle ?not? is the most widely used negator.

2. The pronoun ?no? which is placed before a noun or gerund (it makes the sentence more emphatic):

No department stores open on Sundays.

I could get no information.

There is no escaping from here.

There is no more bread.

3. Other negative pronouns and derivatives of no :

Neither car is exactly what I want.

Neither of them can understand.

May be, may be no. Nobody knows.

Say nothing.

Such methods will get you nowhere.

4. Negative adverbs hardly (ever), scarcely (ever), rarely, seldom, barely. Theymake sentences negative in a similar way to not:

I haven?t got any spare time. → I never have any spare time.

She doesn?t eat anything. → She hardly eats anything.

BUT: She usually eats something.

5. Some other words with a negative meaning: deny, doubt, forget, without, if, few, little:

Let me know if you have any trouble.

She denied any help.

I forgot to bring you any toilet paper.

He was working without any hope of reward.

You have little time for reading, do you?

Ex.2.

Positive and negative tags

Tag questions are usually negative after positive statements (You remember, don't you?) and positive after negative (You haven't forgotten, have you?). They are also positive after statements of negative meaning (That's scarcely a problem, is it?).

Ex.3. Add tag questions to these sentences:

1. There could hardly have been a sillier excuse, ? ? 2. Things are seldom quite what they seem, ? ? 3. You rarely get everything you want in life, ?? 4. People should make the best of what they've got, ?? 5. You can't live for ever, ? ? 6. The news is rather depressing, ? ? 7. There have been some terrible scenes on television,? ? 8. It will be difficult to get aid to all these people, ? ? 9. This is scarcely generous, ? ? 10. We have to do what we can to help, ? ? 11. You are never happy, ?? 12. There is no milk, ?? 13. Nothing matters, ?? 14. There?s scarcely enough time, ?? 15. You never wrote, ?? 16. You doubt it is true, ?? 17. You can do it without my help, ??

Date: 2016-06-12; view: 530