In Definite articles^x, Negatives^x

Emily_ wrote:Hi, I found this explanation on the BBC: When we use few and little without the indefinite article, they usually have a negative meaning, but when we use them with the indefinite article, a little or a few, they have a more positive meaning. Compare the following: I have few...

Hi, I found this explanation on the BBC: When we use few and little without the indefinite article, they usually have a negative meaning, but when we use them with the indefinite article, a little or a few, they have a more positive meaning. Compare the following: I have few friends in...

The is an article (the definite article, to be precise), a kind of determiner.Your set of 'negatives' are not of the same nature of classification of parts of speech as are conjunctions, determiners, adjectives, etc. Not is an adverb (albeit negative), did is an auxiliary verb.

Teo wrote:Grammatically conceivable, but nevertheless still unacceptable on grounds of extreme unnaturalness. We do not normally use 'any' with an unmodified countable noun in a simple interrogative of this type (#5, you will observe, is a negative, not interrogative sentence, to which somewhat...

Grammatically conceivable, but nevertheless still unacceptable on grounds of extreme unnaturalness. We do not normally use 'any' with an unmodified countable noun in a simple interrogative of this type (#5, you will observe, is a negative, not interrogative sentence, to which somewhat different...

Now I'm very used to not using the definite article as much as I do in Spanish. Furthermore, I think that English has had some negative influence upon my Spanish in this respect. I'll give you an example which surprised me: "Here the moral scepticism rests crucially on the confidence that there...

1) My little brother would not turn down the radio volume in the morning. MY = possessive adjective LITTLE = DESCRIPTIVE ADJECTIVE BROTHER = noun WOULD = modal auxiliary NOT = NEGATIVE PARTICLE TURN = main verb DOWN = adverb particle THE = definite article RADIO = noun (used as an...

Thanks, Eagle, Paco, and MisterM for all your painstaking posts! Much to chew on. 1. It's odd that both your and K's dictionaries give this structure, which I seldom if ever hear. Maybe it's more common elsewhere. Sorry, all: I should have been clearer. I meant the ‘Child as he was…’...