Main points
*A negative sentence contains a negative word.
*You do not normally use two negative words in the same clause.
a) Negative statements contain a negative word.
not none nothing nor never nobody nowhere no no one neither
b) You use ‘never’ to say that something was not the case at any time, or will not be the case at any time. If the verb group has more than one word, you put ‘never’ after the first word.
- I’ve never had such a horrible meal.
- He could never trust her again.
c) If the only verb in the sentence is the present simple or past simple of any main verb except ‘be’, you put ‘never’ before the verb.
- She never goes abroad.
- He never went to university.
If the only verb in the sentence is the simple present or simple past of the main verb ‘be’, you normally put ‘never’ after the verb.
- He’s never late.
- There were never any people in the house.
You can also use ‘never’ at the beginning of an imperative sentence.
- Never walk alone late at night.
d) You use ‘no’ before a noun to say that something does not exist or is not available.
- He has given no reason for his decision.
- The island has no trees at all.
Note that if there is another negative word in the clause, you use ‘any’, not ‘no’.
- It won’t do any good.
e) You use ‘none’ or ‘none of’ to say that there is not even one thing or person, or not even a small amount of something.
- You can’t go to a college here because there are none in this area.
- ‘Where’s the coffee?’ – ‘There’s none left’.
- None of us understood the play.
f) You also use ‘nobody’, ‘no one’, ‘nothing’, and ‘nowhere’ in negative statements. You use ‘nobody’ or ‘no one’ to talk about people.
- Nobody in her house knows any English.
- No one knew.
‘No one’ can also be written ‘no-one’.
- There’s no-one here.
You use ‘nothing’ to talk about things.
- There’s nothing you can do.
Ou use ‘nowhere’ to talk about places.
- There’s almost nowhere left to go.
g) You do not normally use two negative words in the same clause. For example, you do not say ‘Nobody could see nothing’. You say ‘Nobody could see anything’.
You use ‘anything’, ‘anyone’, ‘anybody’, and ‘anywhere’ instead of ‘nothing’. ‘no one’, ‘nobody’, and ‘nowhere’ when the clause already contains a negative word.
- No-one can find Howard or Barbara anywhere.
- I could never discuss anything with them.
h) The only negative words that are often used together in the same clause are ‘neither’ and 0nor’.
You use ‘neither’ and ‘nor’ together to say that two alternatives are not possible, not likely, or not true.
- Neither Margaret nor John was there.
- They had neither food nor money.
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Top Tips Abz Ingles: Part A - Part B
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See also:
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