General Negative Sentences

                                  General Negative Sentences

A negative sentence (or statement) states that something is not true or incorrect. A negative adverb has to be added in order to negate or “cancel” the validity of the sentence. This “negation” element is created according to the following general rule.

The Negation Rule: In English, in order to claim that something is not true, you form a negative sentence by adding the word not after the first auxiliary verb in the positive sentence. If there is no auxiliary verb in the positive sentence, as in the Present Simple and Past Simple tenses, then you add one (in both these cases, the auxiliary verb do).

Pay attention: 

• • When an auxiliary verb (including modals) is used, the main verb is not inflected (no s or ed ending), meaning that either the base form or past participle is used.
• • The verb to be uses a different negation pattern.

Review the following table for examples of negation in English. Some examples use the contracted forms more used in informal writing and speech, and some others use the full forms.

Tense	Negative Element + Contracted Forms	Examples
Present Simple	do+not = don’t does+not = doesn’t	I do not play. She doesn’t play.
Past Simple	did+not = didn’t	I didn’t play.
Present Progressive	am + not (*no amn’t) is+not = isn’t are+not = aren't	I am not playing.

• He is not playing.
• We aren’t playing.

Past Progressive
was+not = wasn’t
were+not = weren’t     I wasn’t playing.
They were not playing. 
Present Perfect     have+not = haven’t
has+not = hasn’t     You haven’t played.
She has not played. 

Present Perfect Progressive     have+not+been= haven’t been
has+not+been = hasn’t been     I have not been playing.
She hasn’t been playing.
Past Perfect    had+not = hadn’t     You hadn’t played.

Past Perfect Progressive    had+not+been = hadn’t been    She hadn’t been playing.

Future Simple     will+not = won’t    I won’t play.

Future Perfect    will+not+have = won’t have    He will not have played.

Conditional     would+not    She wouldn’t play.

Conditional perfect    would+not+have    She wouldn’t have played.

Modals    can + not = can’t or cannot (formal)
should+not = shouldn’t     I can’t play.
I cannot play.
We shouldn’t play.

Note:
In informal writing settings, you can contract the auxiliary verb with either the sentence subject or the word not. In formal writing settings, refrain from contracting any words.

• She is not playing. [formal]
• She isn’t playing. = She’s not playing. [informal]

Share With Your Friends!

negatives, nobody, nowhere, anybody, No one, Nothing.

No one, nobody, nothing, nowhere

No one, nobody, nothing and nowhere are indefinite pronouns.

We use no one, nobody, nothing and nowhere to refer to an absence of people, things or places. We use them with a singular verb:

Nobody ever goes to see her. She’s very lonely.

You usually have to wait for a long time. Nothing happens quickly.

There was nowhere to park the car.

We often use the plural pronoun they to refer back to (singular) no one or nobody when we do not know if the person is male or female:

No one remembers the titles of the books they’ve read.

No one or nobody?

No one and nobody mean the same. Nobody is a little less formal than no one. We useno one more than nobody in writing:

I knew nobody at the party.

No one moved; no one said anything.

We write no one as two separate words or with a hyphen: no one or no-one but notnoone.

Nobody or not … anybody, etc.

Nobody, no one, nothing, nowhere are stronger and more definite than not …anybody/anyone/anything/anywhere:

I did nothing. (stronger than I didn’t do anything.)

She told no one, not even her mother. (stronger than She didn’t tell anyone …)

We don’t use not + anyone/anything/anywhere as the subject of a clause:

Nothing will make me change my mind.

Not: Not anything will make me change my mind.

We don’t use nobody, no one, nothing, nowhere after no, not, never or other words which have a negative meaning (hardly, seldom). We use anyone, anybody, anything, anywhere:

I can’t do anything.

Not: I can’t do nothing.

She talks to hardly anyone.

Not: She talks to hardly no one.

Yes and No Question

There are many types of questions in English. The easiest are questions that can be answered "yes" or "no."

A: Are you from around here?
B: Yes, I am.
A: Do you come here often?
B: Yes, I do.
A: Can I buy you a drink?
B: No, thanks.
A: Are you married?
B: Yes, I am.

To form a question from a statement, first count the number of verbs.

John is a doctor.		One verb: is (be)
Jane drives a sports car.		One verb: drives
Joan played basketball last night.		One verb: played
Jan is eating her dinner.		Two verbs: is eating
June has rented an apartment.		Two verbs: has rented
Jen has been living there since 1969.		Three verbs: has been living

If there is one verb in the statement and the verb is a form of be, simply switch the
positions of the subject and verb.

Statement		Question
John is a doctor.		Is John a doctor?
The Jensens are here.		Are the Jensens here?

If there are two verbs, simply switch the positions of the subject and first verb.

Statement		Question
Jan is eating dinner.		Is Jan eating dinner?
June has rented an apartment.		Has June rented an apartment?
Jen has been living here since 1969.		Has Jen been living here since 1969?

If there is one verb, and the verb is not a form of be, the process is more complex.

1. Add Do to the beginning of the sentence.

The Johnsons live in that house.

Do the Johnsons live in that house?

2. If the main verb "carries" a third person singular s, move the s to Do, making it Does.

Jane drives a car.		Do Jane drives a car? (Not finished yet!)
		Does Jane drive a car? (Good question!)

3. If the main verb "carries" past tense, move the past tense to Do, making it Did.

Joan played basketball last night.		Do Joan played basketball? (Not finished yet!)
		Did Joan play basketball? (Good question!)

In conversation, most questions are asked of the second person (you) and answered in the first (I).

A: Are you from California?
B: No, I'm from Oregon. Are you?
A: Yes, I'm from Hollywood.
B: Do you know any movie stars?
A: No, I don't go out at night.

In British English, the main verb have sometimes functions like be in questions. This is not common in American English.

Statement		Question
You have a pet ferret.		Have you a pet ferret? (British)
		Do you have a pet ferret? (American)

Subject and Object Questions

Most questions are object questions. In other words, they ask about an object. Example:Where do you live?. However, there are also subject questions. Questions we ask to find out about the subject. These questions are asked using 'who', 'what' and 'which'. Example: Who plays football in this class?. take a look at the following chart of question forms:

Form	Examples
Object Questions ?word auxiliary subject main Verb	Where do you live? What will you do? When is she coming?
Subject Questions ?word subject (auxiliary) main verb Notice that this structure is like positive sentence structure without the question word.	Who loves you? Which car will arrive first? What type of food costs less?

 

How much and How many

The words much and many mean a lot of.

• If a noun is in singular, we use much

  Example: much money

• If a noun is in plural, we use many

  Example: many friends

Use of much / many

In everyday English, we normally use much / many only in questions and negative clauses.

Example:

How much money have you got?

Carla does not have many friends.

In positive clauses with so, as or too, we also use much / many.

Example:

Carla has so many friends.

She has as many friends as Sue.

Kevin has too much money.

In all other positive clauses, however, we prefer expressions like a lot of / lots of.

Example:

Carla has a lot of / lots of friends.

Kevin has a lot of / lots of money.

In formal texts, however, much / many are also common in positive clauses. This you will notice for example when you read English news.

Countable / Uncountable Nouns

In connection with much / many people often speak of countable nouns and uncountable nouns.
Countable nouns have a singular and a plural form. In plural, these nouns can be used with a number (that's why they are called 'countable nouns'). Countable nouns take many.

Example:

100 friends – many friends

Uncountable nouns can only be used in singular. These nouns cannot be used with a number (that's why they are called 'uncountable nouns'). Uncountable nouns take much.

Example:

100 money – much money

Note: Of course you can count money – but then you would name the currency and say that you have got 5 euro (but not „5 money“).

Information Question

Information Questions 

We have a very clear idea because the word start with the W. The answers for simple questions in English are "Yes," "No," or "I don't know" (or its equivalent). The answers for information questions are varied--because they are used to ask about specific kinds of information. Information questions are also called "Wh-" questions because many of the words that are used to ask this type of question begin with Wh-. Information Questions: Common Question Words   Use this question word to ask about Who* people (names and other identifying information) used as subjects* Whom* people (names and other identifying information) used as objects* What things (subject or object) Whose* ( + noun) ownership Where locations (places) When time (general) What time time (specific) What . . . do actions (verbs) Why* reasons What ( + noun) one part of a group (when all of the parts are not known) Which ( + noun) one part of a group (when the parts are known) What kind of ( + noun) descriptive names for categories What color colors How manner; methods How many ( + noun) number (used with countable nouns) How much ( + noun) quantity (used with uncountable nouns) How long* duration (periods of time); length How far* distance How old age How ( + adjective or adverb) degree or extent ____________________________________________   Special Notes 1. In careful writing and speaking, who is used for subjects and whom is used for objects, but in "relaxed" (casual) speech, who is often used for both subjects and objects. The difference in meaning is clear, however, because the grammar for subject and object questions is different (to be treated later). 2. Whose (for ownership) sounds the same asWho's ( = Who is or Who has), but their meanings are quite different. 3. Two idiomatic "Why" questions are very commonly heard in everyday conversation:How come? and What for? How come does not use question grammar: it's followed by a statement. What for can be used alone or with What at the beginning and for at the end. Except for this requirement, it uses question grammar. 4. How far is normally used in this way: How far is it . . . . .? 5. How is also common with adjectives used in measurements: How tall / How heavy / How long (length) / How wide / How big, etc.

Wh Questions.

WH Question Words

We use question words to ask certain types of questions (question word questions). We often refer to them as WH words because they include the letters WH (for example WHy, HoW).

Question Word	Function	Example
what	asking for information about something	What is your name?
	asking for repetition or confirmation	What? I can't hear you. You did what?
what...for	asking for a reason, asking why	What did you do that for?
when	asking about time	When did he leave?
where	asking in or at what place or position	Where do they live?
which	asking about choice	Which colour do you want?
who	asking what or which person or people (subject)	Who opened the door?
whom	asking what or which person or people (object)	Whom did you see?
whose	asking about ownership	Whose are these keys? Whose turn is it?
why	asking for reason, asking what...for	Why do you say that?
why don't	making a suggestion	Why don't I help you?
how	asking about manner	How does this work?
	asking about condition or quality	How was your exam?
how + adj/adv	asking about extent or degree	see examples below
how far	distance	How far is Pattaya from Bangkok?
how long	length (time or space)	How long will it take?
how many	quantity (countable)	How many cars are there?
how much	quantity (uncountable)	How much money do you have?
how old	age	How old are you?
how come (informal)	asking for reason, asking why	How come I can't see her?

Yes/No summary. Be-Do/Does

Yes/No questions are basic questions in English. 

 They are called Yes/No questions because the answer is "yes" or "no".

Example:      

Do you like pizza?        

• Yes I do.
  
• No I don't.

Yes/No Questions use 2 forms:
1.        Be
2.        Do/Does

Verb to BeStructureBE        +        SUBJECT        +        Adjective/Noun
             Are                     you                          a Doctor?

answer: Yes I'm /No I'm not

Do/DoesDO/DOES        +        SUBJECT        +        VERB
Do                                you                    like coffe?

Answer: Yes I do /No I don't

Yes/No Questions

1) Yes/No questions - be

Subject and verb change their position in statement and question.

statement	You are from Germany.
question	Are you from Germany?

We always use the short answer, not only "Yes" or "No". This sounds rude.

NOTE:
If the answer is "Yes", we always use the long form.
Example: Yes, I am.

If the answer is "No", we either use the long or the contracted form (short form).
Example: No, I am not - No, I'm not.

Are	you	from Germany?	Yes,	I	am.
			No,	I	am not. 'm not.
Is	he	your friend?	Yes,	he	is.
Are	Peter and John	from England?	Yes,	they	are.

---

2) Questions with question words - be

Question word	Verb	Rest	Answer
Where	are	you from?	I'm from Stuttgart.
What	is	your name?	My name is Peter.
How	are	Pat and Sue?	They're fine.

---

3) Yes/No Questions and short answers - have

Auxiliary	Subject	Verb	Rest	Yes/No	Subject	Auxiliary (+ n't)
Have	you	got	a cat?	Yes,	I	have.
Have	you	got	a new car?	No,	we	haven't.
Has	your brother	got	a bike?	Yes,	he	has.
Do	you	have	a cat?	Yes,	I	do.
Do	you	have	a new car?	No,	we	don't.
Does	your brother	have	a bike?	Yes,	he	does.

---

4) Questions with question words - have

Question word	Auxiliary	Subject	Verb	Rest	Answer
Where	have	you	got	your ruler?	I've got it in my pencil case.
Where	do	you	have	your ruler?	I have it in my pencil case.

---

5) Questions without question words in the Simple Present

Auxiliary	Subject	Verb	Rest	Yes/No	Subject	Auxiliary (+ n't)
Do	you	read	books?	Yes,	I	do.
				No,	I	don't.
Does	Peter	play	football?	Yes,	he	does.

---

6) Questions with question words in the Simple Present

Question word	Auxiliary	Subject	Verb	Rest	Answer
What	do	you	play	on your computer?	I play games on my computer.
When	does	your mother	go	to work?	She goes to work at 6 o'clock.
Where	do	you	meet	your friends?	I meet them at the bus stop.

---

7) Questions without question words in the Simple Past

Auxiliary	Subject	Verb	Rest	Yes/No	Subject	Auxiliary (+ n't)
Did	Max	play	football?	Yes,	he	did.
				No,	he	didn't.
Did	you	watch	the film yesterday?	Yes,	I	did.
				No,	I	didn't.

BUT:

to be	Subject	xxx	Rest	Yes/No	Subject	Auxiliary (+ n't)
Were	you		in Leipzig last week?	Yes,	I	was.
				No,	I	wasn't.

---

8) Questions with question words in the Simple Past

Question word	Auxiliary	Subject	Verb	Rest	Answer
What	did	you	do	yesterday evening?	I did my homework.
When	did	she	meet	her boyfriend?	She met him yesterday.
Where	did	they	go	after the match?	They went to a café.

BUT:

Question word	to be	Subject	xxxxx	Rest	Answer
Where	were	you		yesterday?	I was at the cinema.

---

9) Subject question

Question word	Verb	Rest	Subject	Verb	Object - Place - Time
Who	runs	to the shop?	Peter	runs	to the shop.

---

10) Object question

Question word	Auxiliary	Subject	Verb	Rest	Answer
Who	do	you	like?		I like my mum.
Who	did	Mandy	phone	last Monday?	Mandy phoned her uncle.

NOTE!

Subject question			Object question
Who	phoned	John?	Who	did	John	phone?
Answer: Peggy phoned John.			Answer: John phoned Peggy.