88
votes
Accepted
Meaning of "respecting" in "no law respecting an establishment of religion"
The confusing term seems to be "respecting". This is a somewhat different meaning of "respect", that is still in common use:
respecting (prep):
in view of : considering
with respect to :...
- 87.4k
53
votes
Accepted
Should I say: She is 'no' student or She is 'not' a student?
You can say either one, but they have different effects.
"She is not a student" is a simple statement of fact. "She is no student" is usually an emphatic statement, which only really makes sense when ...
- 7,995
53
votes
Accepted
Triple negation: What does "This ain't no place for no hero" mean?
Most of the time, especially in "vernacular" speech, multiple negations are not intended to be interpreted sequentially, but rather as an intensified single negative.
The phrase "This ain't no place ...
- 18.6k
41
votes
"No more Hiroshima" or "No more Hiroshimas"
The latter is correct. If the meaning is essentially There should or must never be any additional uses of nuclear bombs on cities or against people, as occurred in Hiroshima (and in Nagasaki) in ...
- 9,937
39
votes
Accepted
What does "I never stopped to think of it" mean?
There is a difference between
I [never] stopped to think
and
I [never] stopped thinking
In the second, thinking is the object, it's the thing that does (or doesn't) get stopped. The negation in ...
- 13.1k
36
votes
Why is, "If I don't use the microphone, nobody will hear me," not considered a double negative
In most forms of standard English, negatives don't agree with each other, each negative negates something separately.
So:
"If I use the microphone, somebody will hear me" can mean that ...
- 3,513
34
votes
I can't take you anywhere!
The first sentence actually means the opposite of what it says.
You spilled your coffee again!
Usually when it's used this way it's marked with a question mark:
You haven't spilled your coffee ...
- 25.3k
33
votes
Why is there no article after "no" in "I have no car"
Articles belong to a group of words called "determiners". Besides articles, there are other determiners in the English language, and "no" is a determiner too.
Let me quote from BBC:
No is a ...
- 36.3k
33
votes
Accepted
Why is there no article after "no" in "I have no car"
"A" is like saying "one":
I have a car
I have one car
Logically then, saying "no" is like saying "zero":
I have no car
I have zero cars.
Therefore, there is no need for an article.
"Not" is ...
- 86.4k
32
votes
"I'm not afraid" vs "I don't afraid"
As other answers have pointed out, this is not good grammar, and you are correct that it should be 'be afraid' rather than 'do afraid'.
The reason you still hear it is likely due to a troll post on ...
- 771
32
votes
"Do never..." vs. "Do not ever..."
We can say things like:
Don't ever text while driving. Don't ever do such a foolish and dangerous thing!
Never text while driving. Never do such a foolish and dangerous thing!
But we don't ...
- 119k
31
votes
Accepted
Can I safely use "not" instead of words with negative prefixes?
Often the "un" form is stronger than the not form.
happy neutral sad
more happy <----------|------|------|--------->less happy
Unhappy is often roughly the ...
- 177k
29
votes
Accepted
dogs, not cats -> why 'not'?
"Dogs, not cats"
is not a sentence: it is a contraction of a sentence. A fuller sentence would be (for example):
"I mean dogs, not cats."
That, in turn is a contraction of:
"I mean ...
- 776
28
votes
Meaning of "respecting" in "no law respecting an establishment of religion"
The bolded phrase in your question is expressed in an archaic negative - it is saying that Congress is prohibited from making any laws that promote an Established Religion (which is a phrase commonly ...
- 4,648
25
votes
"No more Hiroshima" or "No more Hiroshimas"
Both will be correct, depending upon the context in which you want to use them. If you are referring to the CITY in particular, then it will be "No more Hiroshima". However, if you are referring the ...
- 404
25
votes
Accepted
"I'm not afraid" vs "I don't afraid"
Is it possible to say 'I don't afraid', 'You don't afraid' etc.?
No. It is not possible. See, the verb "be" (is, are, was..) is a copular verb. When the copular is or an auxiliary verb is present in ...
- 36.3k
24
votes
How should I understand this line from Pulp Fiction?
"Fuckin'" here is an intensifier, and it modifies "far". The meaning is the same as "very", with the added connotation of expressing contempt for social propriety, since "fuckin'" is vulgar. Since "...
- 27.2k
22
votes
"No more Hiroshima" or "No more Hiroshimas"
No More Hiroshima is what almost happened in WW-2. No More Hiroshimas is what we say to indicate that we don't want that to happen again. At best, the former sounds like a clumsy attempt at the latter....
- 713
22
votes
What does “not one of them“ mean?
Strictly mathematically, if you only had "not one", it could mean zero, or could mean a hundred, or any other number besides 1.
However, this idiom ("not one of them") is a stronger version of "none ...
- 555
21
votes
"I am not hungry no more."
Grammatically speaking, in standard/formal English a negative negates something. Two negatives together form something called a double negative, where the second negative reverses the first one. This ...
- 4,659
20
votes
Accepted
"The irony was lost on no one, least of all"
"Least of all" is an idiom used with a negative statement meaning, of all those that we have just mentioned, this one meets the condition less than any of the others. i.e. the condition is negative, ...
- 59.5k
19
votes
dogs, not cats -> why 'not'?
Ellipsis (linguistics) — Wikipedia
It refers to the omission from a clause of one or more words that are nevertheless understood in the context of the remaining elements.
There are numerous ...
- 473
19
votes
Meaning of "respecting" in "no law respecting an establishment of religion"
In this case, "respecting" is equivalent to "with respect to" or "concerning":
with/in respect to
In reference or relation to; concerning:
thefreedictionary.com
So this phrase may be understood ...
- 14.4k
18
votes
Should I say: She is 'no' student or She is 'not' a student?
You can say "She is no student."
This "style" is usually used for emphasis.
She is no student! She's an imposter, just a journalist trying to get her story!"
You cannot say "She is not student". ...
- 1,510
18
votes
Why is, "If I don't use the microphone, nobody will hear me," not considered a double negative
The statement that one should not use a double negative is a caution against a particular dialect form well-known to native English speakers. It is something primary school teachers say to native ...
- 2,830
16
votes
"I'm not afraid" vs "I don't afraid"
You can say
"I don't fear <x>."
"I don't have any fear."
"I don't feel afraid."
"I'm not afraid."
Afraid is something you can be (adjective), not something you can do (verb).
Unfortunately, "...
- 968
16
votes
Can we negate 'heaven forbid' in a conditional sentence like this: "If heaven didn't forbid it, I'd sleep with her"?
Interesting question
Heaven forbid
is an idiomatic appeal for divine intervention to not allow something to happen
Heaven forbid that happen!
it should not be confused with (ending s )
...
- 65.7k
15
votes
Accepted
Words to describe the situation in which my diary book has a few fresh pages left
Instead of "fresh pages" you should use "blank pages". Then you could write:
My diary (book) only has a few blank pages left. I will need to start a new one soon.
or
My diary (book) is almost ...
- 31k
14
votes
"I'm not afraid" vs "I don't afraid"
All dictionaries list afraid as an adjective so you can't use it as if it were a verb.
Furthermore, the adjective in question can be used only after linking verbs (for example be or feel):
I feel ...
- 11.3k
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