Cambridge Grammar of English Hardback with cd-rom a comprehensive Guide

Negative imperatives

435d

Second person imperatives are made negative by the forms don’t/do not plus a

lexical verb:

Don’t be silly. 

Don’t expect to learn how to drive in a few weeks. 

Do not

is a more formal alternative:

Do not cross until the green light shows.

Don’t

+ you also occurs in imperatives in informal contexts:

Don’t you try to do that.

Don’t you worry. We’ll do that for you.

Imperatives may also be formed with a negative subject:

Nobody move!

Negative imperatives may also occur with never/not ever:

Never forget who your real friends are.

Don’t ever do that again.

First person negative imperatives are formed with let’s not and don’t let’s. More

formal alternatives are let us not, and don’t let us:

Let’s not get too carried away.

Don’t let’s panic. We’ve got another few weeks to decide.

Let us not forget the victims of this awful crime. 

(more formal)

Don’t let us be severe, don’t let us be in a hurry to condemn him. 

(more formal)

Very rarely, in mock formal styles, the full form of the lexical verb + not may

occur:

[said by a husband to his wife who has just phoned to say that the car has

broken down and that she is stranded by the roadside]

Worry not! Your knight-in-shining-armour will soon be with you.

732 | Negation

Cambridge Grammar of English

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