The sound ofAbba singing ‘Dancing Queen’ had started up in a room the other side of the court. Adrian slammed the window shut. ‘That’ll teach you to throw things out of the window,’ said Gary. ‘It’ll teach menot to throw things out of the window.’
I want to say one thing to theAmerican people. I want you to listen to me. I'm going to say this again: I didnot have sexual relations with that woman,Miss Lewinsky.
1984 December 22, John Stout, “Home for the Holidays: Survival Strategies for Gays”, inGay Community News, volume12, number23, page 5:
Expectation: Everybody in the family has to love everybody else. Reaction:Not the ghost of Christmas past, present, or future could pull this one off unless feeling is already there.
Not me crying by the end of that!! You are a brilliant, beautiful human who deserves no less than the world. Thank you for taking the time to watch unicorn store. It’s a film that means so much to me.
2023 December 9, “Keke Palmer and Darius Jackson: A Complete Relationship Timeline”, inGlamour[2]:
[Keke] Palmer tellsHoda Kotb andJenna Bush Hager to “mind y'all's business” when they ask about her relationship with [Darius] Jackson. ¶ “Not y’all trying to get into it! They trying it on theToday show,” Palmer joked when the subject was first brought up onToday With Hoda & Jenna.
In modern usage,do-support requires that the formdo not ... (ordon’t ...) be preferred to... not for all but a short list of verbs (be, have, can, shall, will, would, may, must, need, ought):
They donot sow. (modern) vs.They sownot. (KJB)
American usage tends to preferdon’t have orhaven’t got tohave not orhaven’t, except whenhave is used as an auxiliary (or in the idiomhave-not):
I don’t have a clue orI haven’t got a clue. (US)
I haven’t a clue orI haven’t got a clue. (outside US)
I haven’t been to Spain. (universal)
The verbneed is only directly negated when used as an auxiliary; this usage is rare in the US but common elsewhere.
You don’t need to trouble yourself. (common in US)
You needn’t trouble yourself. (common outside US)
I don’t need any eggs today. (universal)
The verbdare can sometimes be directly negated.
I daren't do that.
The verbdo, as a main verb, takesdo not.
He does not do that.
In the imperative, all verbs, includingbe, takedo not.
Don't do that.
Don't be silly. (not *Be not silly.)
In the infinitive, verbs must be negated directly. In this casenot cannot appear after the verb; some authorities recommend placing it beforeto to avoid asplit infinitive, but for most speakers the formsnot to do andto not do are more or less interchangeable, with the latter being mostly informal.
The objective is not to lose orThe objective is to not lose.
I wanted not to go orI wanted to not go. (Note the difference between this andI didn't want to go, wherewant is the verb being negated.)
In the subjunctive mood,do-support is not used for negation;not is placed by itself, or withshould, immediately before the verb it modifies, evenbe:
I really like hanging out with my little brother watchingBarney …not!
Sure, you’re perfect the way you are …not!
1911 March, Zane Grey, “Out on the Field”, inThe Young Pitcher, New York, N.Y.:Grosset & Dunlap,→OCLC,page64:
You've got a swell chance to make this [baseball] team, you have,not! Third base is my job, Freshie. Why, you tow-head, you couldn't play marbles. You butter-finger, can't you stop anything?
1922 March 4, “Fed on Fear Too Much”, inThe Pathfinder, volume29, number1470, Washington, D.C.: Pathfinder Publishing Company,page33:
The children are taught to be afraid of winter, of war, of death, of hard times, of disease, of examtinations. Perhaps that is one of the reasons that children so seldom find the conversation of their elders uplifting. It is full of don’ts, buts andnots.
Alternativeletter-case form ofNOT(“unary operation on logical values that changes true to false, and false to true”).
^Oftedal, M. (1956)A linguistic survey of the Gaelic dialects of Scotland, Vol. III: The Gaelic of Leurbost, Isle of Lewis, Oslo: Norsk Tidsskrift for Sprogvidenskap
