- grammar - Should we use not to or to not? - English Language . . .
The words "to not learn" in this context constitute something called a "split infinitive" - that is, the words of the infinitive "to learn" have been separated (sorry, @Barrie, I disagree with you on this) Traditionally, people were taught to avoid split infinitives; but sometimes, it's more natural to split an infinitive than not to That is, split infinitives are no longer considered a
- grammaticality - Whether or not vs. whether - English Language . . .
As Henry Higgins observed in Pygmallion, the best grammarians are often those who learned English in school as immigrants My parents, who were first-generation Americans in the early 20th century, learned English grammar in NYC public schools meticulously They insisted "whether or not" is proper usage, period Over time, language evolves or erodes and the rules change, which really means
- word choice - Usage of neither . . . nor versus not . . . or . . .
The NOAD defines nor as: used before the second or further of two or more alternatives (the first being introduced by a negative such as neither or not) to indicate that they are each untrue or each do not happen: they were neither cheap nor convenient | the sheets were never washed, nor the towels, nor his shirts Or should be used when the first of two or more alternatives is not a negative
- parts of speech - When to use not to and to not - English Language . . .
In a word, yes Some people make distinctions between them, and some people used to condemn the ones with to not (for reasons that were never clear, but that's faith for you), but in fact the order is normally a matter of individual style Unless there's special intonation and stress involved; in that case, all bets are off
- No, not, and non - English Language Usage Stack Exchange
At the linguistics conference, there were no not non- native speakers of Esperanto They're all grammatically "valid", but they all mean different things - and pragmatically idiomatically, only the no version is likely to be used
- grammaticality - It is not . . . but . . . (correct structure) - English . . .
But that presumption does not remove the dissonance or the possibility of misunderstanding In the expression there is or ought to be a rule that where we are dealing with legal, scientific, technical or logical matters, precision trumps brevity and elegance
- word usage - It is, isnt it OR it is, is it not? - English . . .
The second example makes it sound like the speaker is unsure (e g if asking about an elderly actor), or perhaps makes the speaker sound worried that the referent of "he" might actually not be dead (e g a zombie, or an attacker the speaker just fended off) Say your questions out loud, with both intonations on each, and see what you think
- What is the difference between Dont be. . . and Be not. . . ?
The "Be not" construction is simply more poetic It hearkens back to lines like "Death be not proud" from John Donne in the 17th century, or Shakespeare's "Be not afraid of greatness " In most contexts, "do" is strictly an auxiliary verb It's used colloquially in sentences like "don't be alarmed", but doesn't actually carry any meaning
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