1

All examples are mine:

(1) You should not eat much so that you will not be fat.
I want to use "need" and "not" in the first clause instead of "should" and "not", remaining the general idea of the sentence.

(2) You needn't eat much so that you will not be fat.
As far as I understood, (2) doesn't remain the idea of (1) because means:
(3) It's not necessary for you to eat much so that you will not be fat.

(4) You don't need to eat much so that you will not be fat.
As far as I understood, (4) doesn't remain the idea of (1) because it means (3), i. e. the same as (2).

(5) You need to not eat much so that you will not be fat.
As far as I understood, (5) remains the idea of (1).

Am I right?
If not, then why not?

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  • 2
    You do not need to eat so much, otherwise you will become fat.
    – Weather Vane
    Aug 14 at 21:52
  • @WeatherVane As far as I know, your sentence "You don't need to eat so much, otherwise you will become fat" means "It's not necessary for you to eat so much, otherwise you will become fat", which is different from the idea of (1). Why am I wrong? Thanks.
    – Loviii
    Aug 14 at 22:34
  • Ok, (1) asks I want to use "need" and "not" in the first clause instead of "should" and "not", which I did. Another attempt is You need to eat less, or you will become fat. To me they all mean the same thing, every one of them, but they don't say it very well.
    – Weather Vane
    Aug 14 at 22:46
  • ... but if you are making a general statement that eating too much will make you fat (which everbody knows), then make it clear that you are not giving particular advice to someone.
    – Weather Vane
    Aug 14 at 22:54
  • 1
    Choosing to use multiple "not" negations is confusing. It's best to word things with either 0 or 1 "not", and stop. "Eating too much will cause you to be fat." (0 nots). "You should not eat too much, in order to avoid getting fat." (1 not). Getting into 2+ nots can potentially lead to "double negation" in English, and so it triggers alarm bells. English isn't like Spanish where you an say "no" multiple times, just for fun. The nots might contradict each other. But mainly, they obfuscate the meaning, and so better to avoid when possible.
    – Sam
    Aug 15 at 13:51

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