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

INTRODUCTION

434

When a speaker or writer makes a negative statement, they normally say that

something cannot be the case or is not true or is not happening. Clauses, phrases

and words can be made negative. No and not are the core negative words in

English, but there are many other words that signal negation.

Primary negative words in English are:

Other secondary forms that are used to form negative or quasi-negative

statements include:

The following affixes are also most commonly used for negation:

prefixes: de-, dis-, il-/im-/in-/ir-, mis-, non-, un-

suffix: -less

In this chapter (434–447) clause negation is described first, followed by sections

on negative words, then we consider negation as a discourse feature. Several

individual negative words are treated in greater detail in A–Z entries.

Negation is more common in spoken than in written language. One of the main

reasons for this is that in spoken, face-to-face interaction there are

communicative risks in being too assertive; for example, asserting too much and

too definitely can be impolite. I’m sure can sound very assertive whereas I’m not

sure

can keep options and channels of communication open. Using negatives

allows a speaker to remain non-committal. 

A–Z

44 Hardly; 50 Little, a little, few, a few

few

hardly

little

rarely

scarcely

seldom

neither

never

no

nobody

none

no one

nor

not

nothing

nowhere

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