Language/English/Grammar/Negations
Hello Language lovers,
I'm Y Carmel, linguist and interpreter.
As a language teacher, I especially care about Grammar.
There is no limit in learning languages.
People learn languages using different methods and techniques and adapt themselves using whatever tools they have at their disposal.
However, the most important thing in learning language, if you really want to have great speech and accent, is learning the grammar.
Trust me: even among native speakers, many of them learn grammar, just because they want to sound like great speakers.
So if you are a newbie in English language learning, then study English grammar!
Negative sentences
We can form negative sentences using any tense. We just have to understand the general notion.
Subject + Auxiliary + not + base Verb
(The base verb of a sentence is just the verb without "to")
| tense | long form | short form | contextual situation |
|---|---|---|---|
| present | I do not go | I don't go | No buddy, I actually do not go there on Monday.
No buddy, I actually don't go there on Monday. |
| present perfect | I have not gone | I haven't gone | I have not gone there so far.
I haven't gone there so far. |
| past | I didn't go | I didn't go | I did not go there yesterday.
I didn't go there yesterday. |
| past perfect | I had not gone there | I hadn't gone there | I really wish I had not gone there.
I really wish I hadn't gone there. |
| future | I will not go | I won't go | I will not go there tomorrow.
I won't go there tomorrow. |
| conditional present | I would not go | I wouldn't go | Personally I would not go there.
Personally I wouldn't go there. |
| conditional perfect | I would not have gone | I wouldn't have gone | Maybe I would not have gone there.
Maybe I wouldn't have gone there. |
You see, it is pretty easy.
You do not have to focus on how to form negative sentences for all the tenses, you only have to understand the basics, the main form and the tense you are going to use.
Forming Negative sentences using modal verbs
“Can”, “Must”, “May” are modal verbs that have equivalences.
| equivalence | meaning in short form and long form | contextual situation | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Can | to be able to | You cannot do that.
You can't do that. |
You can't give a loan to that client without a collateral. |
| May | to be allowed to. | You may not go.
You mayn't go. (Rare) |
Your parents may not be home this evening and until further notice you are not allowed to party at night. |
| Must | to have to | You must not go.
You mustn't go. |
You mustn't throw the banana skin on the road. God, what were you thinking? |
Please, feel free to correct this lesson or write feedback.