In Negations^x

﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋ {quote=MrPedantic} She isn't greatly missing her family. Yes, those are all fine. But a strange thing: without context, the positive versions of these sentences sound 'straightforward'. They mean what they say. But the negative versions have an...

Rvw wrote: Negative polarity was mentioned several times in this topic. An English professor I talked to said such items constitute a sub-language that has developed on its own, independent of affirmative usages. I have a theory: negative polarity items have evolved to make the distinction...

Hello Roro She isn't greatly missing her family. Yes, those are all fine. But a strange thing: without context, the positive versions of these sentences sound 'straightforward'. They mean what they say. But the negative versions have an air of irony – in other words, they aren't simple...

Roro wrote: Hello MrPedantic, Yes, you've mentioned 'greatly' already, I remember. Sorry and thank you for your further comment. {Which takes us back to the original question...} If I remember correctly it was you who drew us into this controversial issue. What would you recommend?...

Hello MrPedantic again Before going back to your original hypothesis, let me ask a few question, as to 'negated' version of your examples: are they okay (as simple declaratives)? She isn't greatly missing her family. (I'd like to think about ... if we could understand these sentences in...

Quite apart from the linguistic aspect, the law of England (I cannot speak for anywhere else) has the "double indemnity" rule, which means that you cannot be tried twice on the same facts. This extends, I believe, to being tried for perjury when you have denied the offence of which you were...

Hello Roro I feel it is a bit too difficult to discuss the grammar of our language comparatively with those of Indo-European ones. For example, " I like apples very much " is usually translated into " Boku wa ringo ga totemo suki desu ". But strictly speaking " Boku wa ringo ga totemo suki...

nona the brit wrote the following: I'll ask a better grammarian to pop in and explain why! -- You are the best grammarian I have ever met.

The negation would be 'I did not have to go to the gym yesterday'. I'll ask a better grammarian to pop in and explain why!

Nona 2a] I had to go to the gym yesterday. The above is fine. What is the negation here? 2b] I hadn't go to the gym yesterday. You wouldn't write the '2b' sentence, would you? You touched on the subject of strong nature when using the word 'must'. I would agree with...