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Forming Negative Sentences in English

Negative sentences in English are formed by using an auxiliary verb such as "be", "have", or "do" along with the word "not". The choice of auxiliary depends on the tense. "Do" is used for simple tenses, "be" for progressive/continuous tenses, and "have" for perfect tenses. Examples are given of negative sentences in simple present and past, progressive, and perfect tenses using contractions and full forms with "not", "do not", "be not", and "have not".

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Andres Nabaty
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257 views2 pages

Forming Negative Sentences in English

Negative sentences in English are formed by using an auxiliary verb such as "be", "have", or "do" along with the word "not". The choice of auxiliary depends on the tense. "Do" is used for simple tenses, "be" for progressive/continuous tenses, and "have" for perfect tenses. Examples are given of negative sentences in simple present and past, progressive, and perfect tenses using contractions and full forms with "not", "do not", "be not", and "have not".

Uploaded by

Andres Nabaty
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Negative sentences

Negative sentences are created by placing an auxiliary verb (The primary auxiliary verbs
are be, have, and do.) and not before the main verb. The auxiliary verb depends on
the tense we are using.

We use

do + not in simple tenses,

be + not in progressive tenses (action is being continued)

have + not in perfect tenses (action has been completed)

have + be + not in perfect progressive tenses. (action that begins in the past and lasts until a
present)

The boy is from England, but the girl is not from England.

They are not talking because she doesn’t speak English.

They have not got a dictionary.


Negative sentences using not

full form contraction


I I am not I’m not

simple present you, we, they you are not you’re not/you aren’t
he, she, it he is not he’s not/he isn’t
I, he, she, it I was not I wasn’t
simple past
you, we, they you were not you weren’t

Negative sentences using do

pronoun full form contraction


I, you, we, they I do not I don’t
simple present
he, she, it he does not he doesn’t
simple past all forms I did not I didn’t

Negative sentences using not, have, and will

full form contraction


I have not spoken. I haven’t spoken./I’ve not spoken.
She has not spoken. She hasn’t spoken./She’s not spoken.
We had not spoken. We hadn’t spoken./We’d not spoken.
They will not speak. They won’t speak./They’ll not speak.
English is not spoken there. English isn’t spoken there.

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