Negation for beginners

Negation is the act of making a term, phrase, or clause negative or opposite. In this article, you will learn how to make negations.

What Is Negation in English Grammar?

What Is Negation?

Negation is when you say the opposite of what someone else said or express the negative meaning of a word or sentence.

Two Negative Words

There are two words that are commonly used in English to make a sentence negative:

No

We can use 'no' as a negative answer to a yes/no question.

A : Is there any cake left for me?

B : No! Sorry!

We can use 'no' before a noun to make a negative sentence and to show negation.

We have no time to celebrate.

He has no friends.

Not

'Not' is the most common word used to show negation. For example:

I am not a student.

The short form of 'not' is 'n’t' and it often comes after auxiliary verbs or modal verbs to make them negative.

She isn't working on Fridays.

I can't sing.

Comments

Loading recaptcha

You might also like

Compound-complex Sentences

A compound-complex sentence is comprised of at least two independent clauses and one or more dependent clauses. Let's get to know it in detail!

Word Order

Word order refers to the order or arrangement of words in a phrase, clause, or sentence. In order to study them in more detail, take a look at this article!

Cleft Sentences

Cleft sentences are complex sentences that have a meaning we can express by a simple sentence. They are used to emphasize one part of a clause. Let's see.

Negation: Verbs & Clauses

Negation is the process that turns an affirmative statement into a negative one. In this lesson, we will learn about ways of creating negative sentences.

Negation: Nouns & Pronouns

In this lesson, we will learn about negative structures with nouns and pronouns. Do we have negative pronouns? How can we make a negative noun?

Negation: Adverbs

In this lesson, we will learn about negative structures with adverbs. Do we have negative adverbs?
LanGeek
Download LanGeek app