Transcript Grammar 2 12th meeting Negation

Grammar 2
The Second Semester
2015-2016
Negation
Presented by
Dr. Mohamed Sha’at
Objectives of the Session
Students are expected to:
1- form the negation of some words.
2- use different ways of forming negation
correctly.
Negation
When we want to say that something is not true or is
not the case, we can use negative words, phrases or
clauses. Negation can happen in a number of ways,
most commonly, when we use a negative word such
as no, not, never, none, nobody, etc.
Consider the following examples.
1) A: Is there a bus at ten o’clock?
B:No. The last one goes at nine forty-five.
There isn’t a bus at ten o’clock.
2) - Kieran doesn’t play the piano.
- It is not true that Kieran plays the piano.
Negative Words
The most common negative words are no and not.
Other negative words include: neither, never, no one,
nobody, none, nor, nothing, nowhere.
1-She’s never been abroad.
2- There were no newspapers left in the shop by one
o’clock.
3-Nobody came to the house for several days.
4- None of my cousins live near us.
5- Most children don’t walk to school any more.
Activity (1)
Write the negative form of the following sentences.
1. Ali plays football every Sunday.
2- They went to Egypt last summer.
3- The teacher is writing on the board.
4- The teacher was chatting with his colleague.
5- They have eaten their lunch.
6- They had washed their hands before they ate the
meal.
Negation: two negatives
Standard English does not have two negatives in the same
clause (double negatives). Words such as never, nobody, no
one, none, nothing, nowhere, etc. already have a negative
meaning, so we don’t need another negative with the verb:
1- There was no one in the office so I left a message.
Not: There wasn’t no one …
2- Nobody likes to think they are worthless.
Not: Nobody doesn’t like to think …
If we use not with the verb, we use words such as ever,
anybody, anyone, anything, anywhere, instead of never,
nobody, no one, nothing, nowhere:
I haven’t seen Ken anywhere today. In fact I don’t think
anyone’s seen him for the last couple of days.
Not: I haven’t seen Ken nowhere …
or I don’t think no one’s seen him …
Negative clauses with any, anybody, anyone,
anything, anywhere
We don’t use not with some, someone, somebody,
something, somewhere in statements. We use any,
anyone, anybody, anything, anywhere:
1- There aren’t any seats left. You’ll have to stand.
Not: There aren’t some seats left.
2- Tell them I don’t want to see anyone.
Not: Tell them I don’t want to see someone.
After verbs with a negative meaning like decline or
refuse, we use anything rather than something:
3-They refused to tell us anything about it. (preferred
to They refused to tell us something about it.)
Neither, neither … nor and not … either
Neither allows us to make a negative statement about
two people or things at the same time. Neither goes
before singular countable nouns. We use it to say ‘not
either’ in relation to two things.
1- Neither parent came to meet the teacher. (The
mother didn’t come and the father didn’t come.)
2- Neither dress fitted her. (There were two dresses and
not one of them fitted her.)
We use neither of before pronouns and plural
countable nouns which have a determiner (my, his,
the) before them:
3- Neither of us went to the concert.
4- Neither of the birthday cards was suitable.
5-Neither of them was looking for a mate.
Spoken English
In formal styles, we use neither of with a
singular verb when it is the subject. However, in
informal speaking, people often use plural verbs:
Neither of my best friends was around.
Neither of them were interested in going to
university.
In speaking, we can use neither on its own in
replies when we are referring to two things that
have already been mentioned:
A:Mike, which would you prefer, tea or coffee?
B:Neither thanks. I’ve just had a coffee.
Activity 2
Rewrite the following sentences using “Neither of…”.
1- The young brother wasn’t interested in going to the
beach. The old brother wasn’t interested in going to the
beach.
Neither of the brothers was interested in going to the
beach.
2- The math's teacher didn’t accept our invitation. The
English teacher didn’t accept our invitation.
Neither of the teachers accepted our invitation.
Neither ….. nor
We can use neither as a conjunction with nor. It
connects two or more negative alternatives. This
can sound formal in speaking.
Neither Brian nor his wife mentioned anything about
moving house. (Brian didn’t mention that they were
moving house and his wife didn’t mention that they
were moving house.)
Neither Italy nor France got to the quarter finals last
year.
The less formal alternative is to use and … not …
either:
Italy didn’t get to the quarter finals last year and
France didn’t either.
Singular or plural: when using either/or and
neither/nor, note the following rules.
1. If both elements are singular, then the verb is singular
Either the father or the mother has to attend the
meeting. (father and mother are singular; so the verb
has is singular too)
Neither Leila nor Nancy is going to write the report.
(Leila and Nancy are singular; so the verb is is singular.
2. However, if one of the elements is plural, then use a
plural verb.
Either Sue or the girls are going to prepare dinner
tonight. (the girls is plural; so the verb are is plural too)
Neither the teacher nor the students were in the
classroom this morning. (the students is plural; so the
verb were is plural too)
Activity 3
Rewrite the following using ‘Neither ….. nor’.
1- My father didn’t go to university. My mother didn’t go
to university.
Neither my mother nor my father went to university.
2- Soha won’t help you with your homework. Sally
won’t help you with your homework.
Neither Soha nor Sally will help you with your
homework.
3- His father didn’t believe his son. His father didn't
believe his son’s friends.
His father believed neither his son nor his friends.
4- His mother can’t read. His mother can’t write.
His mother can neither read nor write.
Not …… either
We can use not … either to mean ‘also not’, but we do
not change the word order of the auxiliary or modal verb
and subject:
A: I haven’t ever tasted caviar.
B: I haven’t either. (or Neither have I./Nor have I.)
A: I didn’t see Lesley at the concert.
B:I didn’t either. (or Neither did I./Nor did I.)
In informal speaking, we often say me neither:
A: I can’t smell anything.
B: Me neither. (or I can’t either.)
Neither: typical errors
We use neither, not none, when we are talking
about two people or things:
Books and television are different. Neither of
them should replace the other.
Not: None of them …
We don’t normally use both (of) + not to make a
negative statement about two people or things:
Neither of these shirts is/are dry yet.
Not: Both of these shirts aren’t dry yet.
Negative prefixes and suffixes
We use these prefixes most commonly in negation:
de-, dis-, il-/im-/in-/ir-, mis-, non-, un-:
1- What he said was very impolite.
2- There was a misunderstanding about who should
sign the contract.
3- The refugees also need non-food items such as
tents and blankets. (items which are not food)
-less is the most common suffix for negation:
4- Too many people are homeless in this city.
5- We just have endless meetings at work – they’re so
boring.
6- These books are useless for those men.
Polling
How can you grade this meeting?
A = excellent,
B = very good,
C = good or
D = fair.
Dr. Mohammed Sha’at