Editing English grammar (section)

==Negation==
As noted above under {{slink||Verbs}}, a finite indicative verb (or its clause) is [[negation (linguistics)|negated]] by placing the word ''not'' after an auxiliary, modal or other "[[special verb|special]]" verb such as ''do'', ''can'' or ''be''. For example, the clause ''I go'' is negated with the appearance of the auxiliary ''do'', as ''I do not go'' (see [[do-support|''do''-support]]). When the '''affirmative''' already uses auxiliary verbs (''I am going''), no other auxiliary ''verbs'' are added to negate the clause (''I am not going''). (Until the period of early Modern English, negation was effected without additional auxiliary verbs: ''I go not''.)

Most combinations of auxiliary verbs etc. with ''not'' have [[contraction (grammar)|contracted forms]]: ''don't'', ''can't'', ''isn't'', etc. (Also the uncontracted negated form of ''can'' is written as a single word ''cannot''.) On the inversion of subject and verb (such as in questions; see below), the subject may be placed after a contracted negated form: ''Should he not pay?'' or ''Shouldn't he pay?''

Other elements, such as noun phrases, adjectives, adverbs, infinitive and participial phrases, etc., can be negated by placing the word ''not'' before them: ''not the right answer'', ''not interesting'', ''not to enter'', ''not noticing the train'', etc.

When other negating words such as ''never'', ''nobody'', etc. appear in a sentence, the negating ''not'' is omitted (unlike its equivalents in many languages): ''I saw nothing'' or ''I didn't see anything'', but not (except in non-standard speech) *''I didn't see nothing'' (see [[Double negative]]). Such negating words generally have corresponding [[negative polarity item]]s (''ever'' for ''never'', ''anybody'' for ''nobody'', etc.) which can appear in a negative context but are not negative themselves (and can thus be used after a negation without giving rise to double negatives).