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SYNTAX - prednáška 5.hod. (Lojová) (syntax_prednaska11.3.08.doc)
SYNTAX PREDNÁŠKA 11.3.2008
NEGATION
- how to negate a sentence
- normally there is only one negative element in an English sentence
- two negative elements negate one each other
- singer and poets don’t care of grammar rules
- Afro-American English allows as many negations as possible (the same in Slovak)
- but in standard British English there is just one negation
I don’t think he likes me this is more native, sound more native like
I think he doesn’t like me this is also right, but a native speaker wouldn’t say it so
HOW CAN A SENTENCE BE NEGATED
THROUGH VERB NEGATION
- the uses of operators can / can’t
- if there is no operator, we must ad Do / DON’T
- often the use of contraction
I haven’t done it standard
I have not done it if we want to emphasize, we say it all
THROUGH WORDS NEGATIVE IN FORM AND MEANING
- never
- no
- nobody
- nowhere
- nothing
THROUGH WORDS NEGATIVE IN MEANING BUT NOT IN FORM
- grammatically the behave as negative elements, but the form itself must not be negative
- hardly, barely, seldom, a little, scarcely, not quite, only just, few
- we can’t use any other negative element with them
You can hardly do that neither can I.
- uses in question tags
You can hardly do that, can you?
OTHER NEGATIVE WORDS
- they are negative semantically, but not grammatically
- they are negative in meaning
- to refuse, to deny, unhappy
She is unhappy, isn’t she? semantically negative, not grammatically
NON-ASSERTIVE ITEMS
- they have to be adapted to the meaning in a given context
- somebody, anybody, at all
SCOPE OF NEGATION
- the range (rozsah) of negation
- normally the scope is a sentence, when there is a negative element
I wasn’t listening all the time
wasn’t listening all the time = I was sleeping all the time
- sometimes the scope is just a part, not the whole sentence
I wasn’t listening all the time
wasn´t listening = I was listening just time and again, at the beginning and at the end
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I don’t like all the students.
- I don’t like any students
- I don’t like the students we are talking about (in one group)
ADJUNCT - time adjunct - usually it’s this - that helps us to limit the scope (all the time)
I wasn’t listening to some of you presentation there might be an ambiguity
- some I was, some I wasn’t
- I wasn’t listening at all
You are not allowed to use all of my books the right scope of neg. we know from the context
- you are allowed to use some
- you are not allowed to use any of them
FOCUS OF NEGATION
- we might emphasize just one negative element from the sentence
I didn’t take John to swim in the pool today.
I didn’t take John - but I took Mike
I didn’t take John to swim - but I took him to basketball
I didn’t take John to swim in the pool today - but I took him yesterday
I didn’t take John at all
LOCAL NEGATION
- not the whole sentence is negated, just a part of it
I saw him not long ago. not long ago = adjunct - time
this is a positive sentence
I saw him recently
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She lives not too far from here not too far = adjunct - place
She lives near by
I read a not very interesting book not very interesting book = noun phrase
It was quite interesting
NEGATION OF MODAL AUXILIARIES
- the auxiliary verbs are negated by adding NOT after them (You mustn’t come / She will not come)
- in a modal verb phrase the negation element is between the modal and the verb
You may not listen to me 1 sentence / more meanings
- smieš ma nepočúvať - deontic meaning (may not)
- možno ma nepočúva - epistemic (not listen)
when two negative elements do not negate each other
- normally if we have 2 negatvie elements in 1 sentence they negate each other and the meaning is than positive - but no always
She is not unhappy
- she is happy
- she isn’t unhappy, but she must not be happy
INVERSION IN NEGATIVE SENTENCES
- if we put a negative element in the front of the sentence, we have to change the word order of an interrogative sentence
Never did I read the book.
Never have I read the book.
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