By Negatives, Auxiliaries

Re: You need only see her. (Is this correct?)

If we follow Swann, we can use need as a modal verb in an affirmative sentence when a 'non-affirmative' word (such as only, hardly, seldom etc.) gives the sentence a negative kind of meaning. Look at Swann's last example: the sentence becomes incorrect when only is removed.That said,...

Re: Possible meaning of "oughtn't (to) have done" and "shouldn't have done"?

Here are my opinions. Two different should's are possible: the should of expectation should-exp the should of advice should-adv should-adv is much more common than should-exp.should-exp expresses an evaluation of the situation with regard to what is possible, probable, plausible, or...

Re: Modal verb Used to, understood?

Hi EladioYou have a mathematical mind! Congratulations! In addition to what CalifJim and MrP have said, I would like to add a couple of comments. In one of your sentences not is in the wrong place:"Shall not we ever get used to this house?" Not can't be after a defective/modal...

Re: did or was

Anonymous wrote: Hi, Sometimes I get confused which one to used in the situations like the one or ones below. Did he go to school on Sunday? Was he born in Japan? Why one takes a modal verb 'did', whereas the other one takes an auxiliary verb 'was'? How can I make correct choices? 'Go'...

Re: did you go OR did you went

why do we need to change the past verb to a bare infinity infinitive in question and negative formOnly one past marker is allowed within a single clause. The auxiliary takes the past marker, so the main verb cannot. The regular past marker is d, but some verbs are irregular, of course. The...

Re: did you go OR did you went

Thanks CJ for the reply. The tense is carried out by auxiliary verb in past tense, why do we need to change the past verb to bare infinity in question and negative form. such as "did you go " in other tense you dont alter verb such as "i am going" "are you going" why do we need to change the...

Re: sleep in the same bed as you

"Do" is the finite verb when negative occurs, which turns "want" into an auxiliary verb along with "sleep". "As you" is added to make things clearer. It depends on how the finite verb agrees with the pronoun: "We don't want to sleep in the same bed (as each other)" - both of us share the...

No auxiliary do

Send me not away from you!What say you?Do not send me away from you!What do you say?Basically, questions and negatives without the auxiliary do. Is this kind of structure incorrect? Can I use it all the time? Like in I don't think so, can I say I think not so or something like this?

Re: question regarding when my sentence starts with hardly

Mnrz57 wrote:hi allI know when a sentence starts with rarely, hardly etc it turn into question form likerarely have I been therethe question is that how about when you are using auxiliary verbs such as CANhardly you can find a car hereor hardly can you find a car herewhich one is correct?thanks...

Re: question regarding when my sentence starts with hardly

... how about when you are using auxiliary verbs such as CAN?Same rule. With these negative polarity items like hardly and rarely, invert subject and operator so that you have the same word order as you would use in a question. For more on operators, see also Post:245063 and...