Grammar 2 The Second Semester 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