Search results for 'tag:Negatives tag:Word order' matching tags 'Negatives' and 'Word order'

Re: the difference between the main and auxiliary forms of have (negative) ?

Grammar Geek — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 13:53:54 GMT

Hi Matt, and welcome to English Forums.

I'm not sure I agree with your lecturer.

In American English, we rarely say "I haven't time" - instead we say "I don't have time" but either way, "have" is the main verb. (Could your lecturer possibly be thinking that "breakfast" is being used as a verb? I haven't time TO breakfast? It's not very common to say it that way, and sounds like a novel: "We'll breakfast at 9.")

Using a different example:
I haven't any idea!
I don't have any idea!

They have the same meaning and both are correct. It's no different from the breakfast example, except that the position of "usually" is unusual. Even so, I can't say it's an error, just an unexpected word order.

It will be interestign to hear what others - BrE speakers in particular - have to say.

nor

Anonymous — Tue, 06 May 2008 07:30:16 GMT

Hi,

At The American Heritage Book of English Usage at Bartleby.com in the section named "1. Grammar: Traditional Rules, Word Order, Agreement, and Case", I saw this line in its note:

However, when a verb is negated by not or never, and is followed by a negative verb phrase (but not an entire clasue), you can use either or or nor: He will not permit the change or (or nor) even consider it.

Can you tell me what is it saying???

Before that, it had this example sentence:

He cannot find anyone now, nor does he expect to find anyone in the future. Jane will never compromise with Bill, nor will Bill compromise wth Jane.

And it seemed to have noted that these constructions nor causes an inversion of the "does' and 'will' and subject (whatever that is).

Re: net effect

CalifJim — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 21:23:47 GMT

What does "net effect" mean? (Note the word order.)

It's the final effect resulting from a combination of many different effects, some of which add to the final effect, some of which detract from it.

It's the final result after all the positive and negative components are combined.

A similar expression is "net pay". On your paycheck you have a gross amount, based on your stated salary, and a net amount, which is the gross amount minus taxes and other deductions. The net amount is also called net pay.

CJ

Re: question regarding when my sentence starts with hardly

CalifJim — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 21:40:47 GMT

... 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 Post:406973.

CJ

Re: Could only one ''nor'' be used with ''neither''?

CalifJim — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 18:07:54 GMT

The grammatical mistake is in the word order. "Inversion after an initial negative" rule.

Neither is he ill-mannered, nor is he dishonest.

Alternately, put the subject first:

He is neither ill-mannered nor dishonest.

You can do more than one nor, but that's not very common.

CJ

Re: Pronouns

Yoong Liat — Thu, 28 Sep 2006 05:07:33 GMT

Clive wrote:

Hi,

What is the correct word order (if there is one) for two object pronouns? For example, is is "He hated her and me" or "He hated me and her"? I wouldn't really say that grammar requires a particular order. Such matters usually come from politeness. eg For subjects, Mary and I is usually more polite than I and Mary'. But I don't see as much need for that with objects.

Emphasis is a consideration. Generally speaking, the one that comes first will seem to have a bit more emphasis, but even here, things like tone of voice also are important factors.

Best wishes, Clive

Hi Clive

I've read from a book on English usage that if it is about something negative, the speaker should mention himself or herself first. 'I and Peter have committed a crime.'

Re: inversion

milky — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 19:34:57 GMT

Cool Breeze wrote:
Unpredictable is not negative enough to cause inversion in modern English although it probably often did change the word order in Old English. These days most people would probably say: She was unpredictable enough to show up in my office.

The second sentence might read: She was a strong queen when she faced (or: when facing; or: when she was faced with) internal enemies as well as outside/external invaders such as France and Spain.

Cheers
CB

What about "Unpredictable as ever, he..."? We use that.

Re: inversion

Cool Breeze — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 17:12:24 GMT

Unpredictable is not negative enough to cause inversion in modern English although it probably often did change the word order in Old English. These days most people would probably say: She was unpredictable enough to show up in my office.

The second sentence might read: She was a strong queen when she faced (or: when facing; or: when she was faced with) internal enemies as well as outside/external invaders such as France and Spain.

Cheers
CB

Re: What say you?

Cool Breeze — Sat, 24 Jun 2006 11:34:50 GMT

To use the auxiliary 'do' to form questions and negative clauses is a phenomenon that is only about 400 years old. 'Do' existed in Old English but it meant 'to cause' as in What caused the accident? In Shakespeare's day 'do' began to be used in questions and there were two ways to form a question. You could say

Do you know him? or
Know you him?

Up to the 16th century questions had been formed by changing the word order, and that's how they are formed in other Germanic languages even today.
Examples:

Sprechen sie Deutsch? (= Speak you German?)
Talar ni svenska? (= Speak you Swedish?)

Inversion is still used even in English with some very common verbs:
Is he rich?
Can you swim?

Wouldn't it be nice if English were consistent and we said:
Does he be rich?
Do you can swim?

Cheers
CB

Re: Not for Nothing

Clive — Thu, 02 Mar 2006 00:55:02 GMT

Hi guys,

Not for nothing is the city a sister city of New York can be rephrased as

The city is not a sister city of New York for nothing. The meaning is that there is, indeed, a reason.

The double negative adds emphasis. For example,if someone asks me to help them with their English, I might say I don't work for nothing! (Not, alas, a principle that I follow on this forum)

The inverted word order adds a rather rhetorical flourish and style to the sentence.

You'll find a few examples of this via google, eg

Not for nothing do many established professional writers consider that it is harder to write a good short story than a novel.

Best wishes, Clive