English Grammar- Negation using negative words
Negations are words like no, not, and never. It is opposite of something that is actual, positive, or affirmative. It turns an affirmative statement into its opposite denial. In English Grammar, there are also some rules for negation grammatical construction that negates all or part of the meaning of a sentence.
Negation in tense
| Present Indefinite Tense | do – do not/ don’t, does – does not/doesn’t |
| Present Continuous Tense | am – am not, is – is not/isn’t, are – are not, aren’t. |
| Present Perfect Tense | have – have not/haven’t, has – has not/hasn’t |
| Present Perfect Continuous Tense | has been – has not been, have been – have not been |
| Past Indefinite tense | did – did not/didn’t |
| Past Continuous tense | was – was not/wasn’t, were – were not/ weren’t |
| Past Perfect Tense | had – had not/hadn’t |
| Past Perfect Continuous Tense | had been – had not been/hadn’t been |
| Future Indefinite Tense | will – will not/won’t |
| Future Continuous tense | will be – will not/won’t be |
| Future Perfect Tense | will have = will not have/won’t have |
| Future Perfect Continuous Tense | will have been – will not have been/won’t have been |
Examples of Negation in Tense
It’s not like that.
I don’t know.
I don’t want anything.
Don’t do this.
Don’t cheat anybody.
Don’t speak harshly.
No, she didn’t.
I will not go there.
She hasn’t come yet.
I am not asking you.
He had not come here.
He did not come here.
She was not feeling well.
Negation in Modal Auxiliary
| can | can not/ can’t |
| could | could not/ couldn’t |
| may | may not |
| might | might not, mightn’t |
| must | must not, mustn’t |
| need | need not/ needn’t |
| should | should not/ shouldn’t |
| would | would not/ wouldn’t |
Examples of Negation in Model Auxiliary
Sorry, I can’t afford it.
You shouldn’t allow this.
It can’t be so.
No, I couldn’t go.
They must not come here.
You need not do this.
You shouldn’t have gone there.
Some other Negation words
Some words like nobody, no, no one, nothing, nowhere, etc. represent the Negation.I know nothing in this connection.
Don’t cheat anybody.
Nobody could answer these questions.
I have nowhere else to go.
