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What Is Negation in Verbs and Clauses?
Negation is the grammatical process of expressing the opposite or negative of a statement. In verbs and clauses, negation is typically expressed by using negative words. One way to negate clauses or sentences is to simply negate the verbs.
Negation with 'Not'
The most common way to negate a statement is by adding 'not' or its contracted from n't after the verb.
I
I
Be + Not
'Be' is one of the most common verbs in the English language, so let's start by learning how to negate it.
| Be | Be in Negative |
|---|---|
| am |
am |
| is |
is |
| are |
are |
| was |
was |
| were |
were |
He
Sean
Tip
As you can see in the table above, the verb 'be' cannot be negated using the contracted form in the first person singular form 'am'. So, never write amn't.
When using 'is' and 'are', there are two possible negative forms: '
Do + Not
The second most common auxiliary verb in English is 'do'. Let's see its different forms and how they can be negated.
| Do | Do in Negative |
|---|---|
| do |
do |
| does |
does |
| did |
did |
I
I
Have + Not
'Have' is another common verb. Like the other two, it can be used both as a main verb and an auxiliary verb. We can negate it by adding 'not' after it.
| Have | Have in Negative |
|---|---|
| have |
have |
| has |
has |
| had |
had |
Amelia
I
Modals + Not
All modal verbs can be negated by adding 'not' (or n't) after them. However, there are some exceptions to be considered here. For example, you cannot use the contracted form of 'not' with the modal verbs 'may' and 'shall'. Additionally, to use the contracted form of 'will not', you should completely change the form of the verb to 'won't'. In the table below, you can see the list of modal verbs that regularly take 'not':
| Modal | Modal in negative |
|---|---|
| can |
can |
| may/might |
may |
| shall |
shall |
| will |
will |
| ought to |
ought |
| should |
should |
You
I
Tip
In the first example above, you can see that we have two auxiliary verbs: 'should' and 'have'. In such cases, 'not' is always added after the first verb. See another example:
I
negating the verb using the auxiliary 'do' + 'not'
Negative Questions
We can also use not or n't to form negative questions:
- When there is a modal verb or be, we use auxiliary/be + n't or auxiliary/be + subject + not to form negative questions;
- When there is no modal or be verb, we use the auxiliary verb 'do' + n't, or do + subject + not before the main verb
Negative Imperatives
In order to make a negative order or command (imperative), we use the following structure:
do not/don't + the base form of the verb
Do Not Negate a Verb Directly
Remember that you cannot negate the main verb directly. You must use an auxiliary. Take a look at this example:
I
In order to negate it, you cannot say:
I haven't a sister.
or:
I not have a sister.
The only correct way to negate this sentence is to use an auxiliary verb:
I
Negative Non-finite Clauses
Non-finite clauses are clauses where the main verb is in the to-infinitive form, the -ing form, or the -ed form. The negative forms of non-finite clauses are formed by adding not before them. For example:
The best thing about vacations is
She didn't say anything,
Tip
When using to-infinitive clauses, we can also use 'not' after 'to'. However, it is not recommended. Many consider this 'split infinitive' to be grammatically unacceptable.
Review
To negate a sentence we are forced to add 'not' to its auxiliary verb. If a sentence has only an auxiliary verb what you do is to add 'not' directly to the auxiliary. But if there is a main verb you are forced to use (do, does, did) as an auxiliary before the main verb to be allowed to add 'not' to auxiliary (do, does, did) and negate the whole sentence.
Here are some examples for negation
Jacob
Justin and Julian
Katherine
His mother
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