NEGATION
Negation
refers to “the action or logical operation of negating or making negative”.
In
simpler terms, negation defines the polar opposition of affirmative, denies the
existence or vaguely – a refutation. This is also known as “Not”. Classical
logic resembles negation with truth function which takes truth to falsity and
is perfectly capable of running the opposite operation. It denies the truth of
a sentence. It’s just the conversion of the affirmative sentence which converts
the simple affirmative sentence into negative.
Example:
◦I
like to sing = I do not like to sing.
RULES
OF NEGATION:
By
changing the auxiliary verb of the sentence into negative, we can apply
Negation in a sentence.
1.
NEGATION IN TENSES:
1.
PRESENT INDEFINITE TENSE : Do = do not/ don’t, does = does
not/doesn’t.
2.
PRESENT CONTINUOUS TENSE : Am = am not, is = is not/isn’t, are = are
not, aren’t.
3.
PRESENT PERFECT TENSE : Have = have not/haven’t, has = has not/hasn’t
4.
PRESENT PERFECT CONTINUOUS TENSE: Has been = has not been, have been = have not
been
5.
PAST INDEFINITE TENSE : Did
= did not/didn’t
6.
PAST CONTINUOUS TENSE : Was = was not/wasn’t, were = were not/
weren’t
7.
PAST PERFECT TENSE : Had = had not/hadn’t
8.
PAST PERFECT CONTINUOUS TENSE : Had been = had not been/hadn’t been
9.
FUTURE INDEFINITE TENSE : Shall = shall not, will = will not/won’t
10.
FUTURE CONTINUOUS TENSE : Shall be = shall not be, will be = will
not/won’t
11.
FUTURE PERFECT TENSE : Shall have = shall not have, will have=
will not have/won’t have
12.
FUTURE PERFECT CONTINUOUS TENSE: Shall have been = shall not have been,
will have been = will not have
been/won’t have been
Examples:
◦He
drives the car = He does
not drive the car
◦Alex
ate rice = Alex
did not eat rice
◦He
will come tomorrow = He will not come
tomorrow
2.
NEGATION IN MODAL-AUXILIARIES:
MODAL
MODAL IN NEGATIVE
1. CAN : Cannot/ can’t
2. COULD : Could not/ couldn’t
3. SHALL : Shall not
4. SHOULD : Should not/shouldn’t
5. MAY : May not
6. MIGHT : Might not/mightn’t
7. WILL : Will not/won’t
8. WOULD : Would not/wouldn’t
9. MUST : Must not/mustn’t
10. OUGHT TO : Ought not to
11. NEED : Need not/needn’t
Examples:
◦Edward
can swim = Edward cannot swim
◦We
must go there = We must not go there
◦You
may go now = You may not go now
3.
NEGATION IN WORDS:
Some
words such as ever, anybody, anyone, anything, anywhere, instead of never,
nobody, no one, nothing, nowhere, etc. represent the Negation.
Examples:
◦I
do not think he can ever reach within time.
◦I
cannot find him nowhere.
◦Nothing
is impossible in life
USES
OF NEGATION:
1.
Using prefixes:
Prefixes
can be used to make a word into a negation by using the words Such as “IR, UN,
NON, PRE, ANTI, IL, IM, etc.
Examples:
◦John is not uncontrollable by his family member though he is
a special child.
◦this
is an impossible task to perform.
◦Ghandhi
introduced non-violence movement
2.
USING SUFFIXES:
Suffixes
are also used for negation, such as “less”.
Examples:
◦Jim
is so careless that he will not do anything.
◦The
food was so tasteless.
◦We
are doubtless about her performance.
3.
USING NEGATIVE ADJECTIVES AND ADVERBS:
The
following negative adjectives or adverbs are also used for negation:
“Little,
few, a little, a few, hardly, barely, scarcely, roughly, rarely, seldom etc”.
Examples:
◦John
had little hope of success in this project.
◦Robin
was a little tired.
◦I
have hardly seen John working so hard.
◦We
have rarely seen any singer like Karthick.
4.
USING NEGATIVE WORDS:
We
use the following negative words for negation:
“No,
not, nothing, never, no one, none, nobody, nowhere, neither, neither….nor, not
either, none of, not any etc”.
Examples:
◦There
was no one in the field.
◦None
can hide the truth.
◦My
mom doesn’t like this movie, neither do I.
◦
Neither I nor my brother attended the party.
5.
USING DOUBLE NEGATIVES:
Double
negative on the other hand, simply defines the existence of two forms of
negation in the same sentence. Please, notice that a double negative can often
result in an affirmation in the English language. The rhetorical term for such
a phenomenon is ‘litotes’.
The
double negatives can be formed by two ways
I
by using two negative words
II
by using prefixes or negative adjectives or adverbs.
Examples:
◦He
cannot go nowhere without informing me
◦He
hardly stops for small-talks
In
modern English, Double Negatives are highly avoidable as it is grammatically
wrong. We know we cannot use more than one negative word in a statement. It
usually used in informal conversation or speech and in songs’ lyrics as well.
To form a correct sentence, we must avoid using a double negative in a single
sentence formally.