By Negations, English grammar

Something to chew on:THE NOTION OF STANDARD SPOKEN GRAMMAR The term ‘standard grammar’ is most typically associated with written language,and is usually considered to be characteristic of the recurrent usage of adult,educated native speakers of a language. Standard grammar ideally reveals...

Do existed in Old English more than a thousand years ago as a regular verb and meant to cause. It is impossible to say who introduced it to English. It's use as an auxiliary in questions and negations was established in Shakespeare's day when it was correct to say bothI know not himandI...

Hi, according the British rules it isn't correct to use can't, there is only cannot. This is not accurate. Most Britons use the contracted form "can't" in rapid and informal speech. The British pronunciation differs somewhat between different British accents, the RP norm is /kɑː nt/. there is...

Christanford wrote:When watching American dramas, I have trouble distinguishing between "can't" and "can". How are they different in terms of pronunciation?I sometimes can guess from the context, but when people say something like " I can't not go", I will be very confused and have to look at...

Hi, I enjoyed reading this thread, and learned a lot of new things about English grammar.I'm now OK with partial negation, but are there any rules regarding what Kooyeen raised as a side discussion item?Negation of "A, B, and C" ---> Should we take <not...A, B or C> or <not...A, B and...

The logic of negation with a universally quantified subject comes up quite often on the forums. In short, is/are not ... is ambiguous and should be rephrased. See Post:261587. See Post:360377. See Post:121380. See Post:48732. CJ

Thank you to all those who have posted their suggestions to my little imagination game. Some have taken it very seriously thinking they would have to relearn English after the 'changes'. This was meant to be just a game, not for those wo take everything seriously, and of course in this game...

I understand in English when we say "Both windows are not open.", we mean: "Not both of the windows are open. Probably one is open, the other is closed. " Am I right? If so, how about: "Everybody doesn't like the book." Does that also mean: "Not everybody likes the book. Some do and some don't."?...

I have been told, though have never actually read it myself, that the bulk of the prescriptive "rules" we follow today - were penned by Bishop Lowth, in his massively influential : Short Introduction to English Grammar (1762), hence you will find Shakespeare writing things which you think are...