How to do this…

In English there are a number of different ways to be Negative and these depend on the original positive sentence.

Generally speaking we make negatives in two ways. Either by adding not to an auxiliary verb or by using do/does/did + not:

I am going to answer that question. > I am not going to answer that question.

He answered the phone in time. > He did not answer the phone in time.

After that there are negative words we can use and later on in the article, the infamous double-negatives!

If the Main Verb is be

When the main verb in the sentence is the auxiliary to be we make the negative by simply adding to it the negative particle not:

{be} + not

She is not English
They were not here.

If the Main Verb is not be

With other verbs, we make negatives simply by using do not or does not and the bare infinitive:

do/does/did + not + {bare infinitive}

I do not live in London.
She does not live in London.
They did not telephone.

which form of do?

When you go over this in your TEFL class, explain that we need to choose the right form of do and this depends on the original verb.

Modals & Auxiliaries

Suppose there’s a modal or auxiliary in the positive sentence.

I can dance.
They will arrive soon.
The Jets have won.

We simply add not after the modal or auxiliary:

{auxiliary/modal} + not

I can not dance.
They will not arrive soon.
The Jets have not won.

Informal English

In informal situations, we usually use n’t instead of not:

There are exceptions:

The negative of can is can not. This is sometimes made into one word, cannot:

can not = cannot = can’t

Negative Word Changes

Sometimes we change other words from positive to negative:

no

There are some people.
There are no people.

none

There isn’t any left.
There is none left.

neither…nor

Either Pete or Jeff will help.
Neither Pete nor Jeff will help.

no one, nothing, nobody, nowhere

There is someone in the room.
There is no one in the room.

Using no is stronger than saying not any. Can you tell the difference here?

I have no desire to go out with him.
I don’t have any desire to go out with him.

Double Negatives

Double negatives are not used in standard English.

* I cannot see nothing.
I cannot see anything.

* an asterisk at the beginning shows something is ungrammatical

It is also incorrect in standard English to use negative words alongside adverbs such as barely, hardly and scarcely. That is because these adverbs have a minimizing effect on the verb. They mean something like almost not at all. They resemble negative adverbs such as not and never in that they are used with any, anybody, and similar words rather than none, nobody, and other negatives.

* I couldn’t hardly see it.
I could hardly see it.

* I barely have no money left.
I barely have any money left.

* I don’t have no money left.
I don’t have any money left.

See the links below for a detailed discussion on double-negatives.

Finally

Although necessary, negative phrasing can sometimes come across as harsh. In some cases you may want to consider turning your negative phrase into a positive one.

What we’re doing here is simply putting a spin on the words to make them sound better; the meaning doesn’t really change at all.

Useful Links

Double Negatives‏‎ in English – what’s wrong with them?