In Clauses^x, Negations^x

"possible", "impossible", and their negations (like many other adjectives) can take a "FOR ... TO ..." clause as subject . Leave out "on the basic level"; it just specifies what kind of understanding (basic) is meant. The structure is "FOR a Russian or French person TO understand his music is...

I don’t mean love is not more important than money. I wasn't concentrating on the double negative, just "not more" and "not less". Now that you point out the double negative, I'd have to say that, under the most likely reading the sentence is equivalent to I mean love is more important than...

Future Tense + UNTIL + Point in Time The structure shown above works differently, depending whether the verb is interpreted as a continuing situation or as an event. Some verbs can only be interpreted one way; some can be interpreted both ways. Situations: waiting, being away 1) I'll wait...

Pastel, I have a headache already! ~L~ Let's go step by step I agree with what you said about the first pair of sentences (me/I do). Your other example, "I don't like him as much as you" can certainly be ambiguous; the two interpretations you posted are possible. I agree with your analysis of...

Miriam, The book is by Rodney Huddleston and Geoffrey Pullum. The capital letters in square brackets refer to a list of criteria on the preceding page concerning auxiliary verbs vs. modal auxiliaries. Here's the list: AUXILIARY PROPERTIES Primary verb negation. Subject-auxiliary inversion ...

"He had not been ill, he might have ccome." I think this sentence should read "IF he had not been ill, he might have come." In your sentence, the conjunction that introduces the conditional clause is missing. The second sentence is fine. When a conditional clause contains one of the auxiliary...

Also, it should be noted that if you have two negatives in one clause, they cancel each other out. For example, "I won't not go" means the same thing as "I will go."