Newsgroup: it.cultura.linguistica.inglese
Titolo: negazioni

Dove e come posso mettere la negazione in queste frasi?
"My not passing (not) the exam would upset my motha!"
"I'm afraid of not passing (not) the exam!"

 "I'm afraid of not passing (not) the exam!"
In both cases, leave out the "not" you have in parentheses.
My not passing the exam would upset my mother. [sic]
I'm afraic of not passing the exam. 
-- 
In case you're new to this NG, haven't been paying attention, have very 
limited knowledge of English, or have Alzheimer's, let me state that the 
foregoing is my opinion of modern, colloquial, American English. (With 
apologies to the regular readers and the healthy, for the repetition.) I 
point this out to avoid confusing the reader; references to British English 
may appear to contradict the foregoing.
(And if you can read and comprehend the immediate foregoing message, your 
level of English is not all that bad. :)
If you feel the need to e-mail me, un-not my address first.

 I'm afraic of not passing the exam.
does "I'm afraid not to pass the exam" mean the same thing?
-- 
Yeah, whatever...

 does "I'm afraid not to pass the exam" mean the same thing?
It would convey the same meaning, but it's a little odd. Better would be:
I'm afraid I won't pass the exam.


 Better would be: I'm afraid I won't pass the exam.
definitely
-- 
Yeah, whatever...

 "odd" means people will laugh at me if I say things like that, isn't it? :)
Only a mean person would laugh at you if you said something like that. I
think most people would simply note, consciously or otherwise, that you
might be a foreigner; or poetic; or drunk; or or    or  just trying to be
different. :)


"odd" means people will laugh at me if I say things like that, isn't it? :)
I don't know about other places, but in the States no one would laugh at you
because of a language mistake.  You can make any mistake, anywhere, anytime in
any situation.  People will just look at you and try to understand what you are
saying.   Don't forget that a good % of the population here speaks English as a
second language.  Here is an example.  Today I called the American Red Cross,
but was not able to get an answer to my question, so the man who answered the
phone (not a native speaker) said "Let me give you some numbers" .  I thought
he was going to give me a few phone numbers.  He only gave me one and that was
302-9788.  When I asked him if he had other numbers I could call, he said he
didn't  Then after hanging up I realized that he did give me "some numbers". 
He gave me seven numbers, so that was "some numbers" to him.   
bye
ari

 different. :)
anyway in a normal context I'd be keen to use your own sentence, I was just
wondering :)
but......drunk people talk like that? :)
-- 
Yeah, whatever...

 He gave me seven numbers, so that was "some numbers" to him.   
got it :)
-- 
Yeah, whatever...

 but......drunk people talk like that? :)
Shure!
Sebastiano
-- 
Michael Amador : Can you protect my family?
Jack Bauer : Yes, we can.
Michael Amador : How can you protect my family when you can't even protect
yours? 

 second language.
That's a very good point. Here in NYC there are so many foreigners with so
many accents and manners of speaking that it never occurs to me to laugh at
them, but rather merely to figure out what it is they are trying to say.
-- 
The foregoing is my opinion of modern, colloquial, American English. I
point this out to avoid confusion; references to British English may appear
to contradict the foregoing.
If you feel the need to e-mail me, un-not my address first.

 Sebastiano
... and you have your answer!
-- 
The foregoing is my opinion of modern, colloquial, American English. I
point this out to avoid confusion; references to British English may appear
to contradict the foregoing.
If you feel the need to e-mail me, un-not my address first.

 but......drunk people talk like that? :)
Well, perhaps this is generalizing, but all my *friends* do. :)
-- 
The foregoing is my opinion of modern, colloquial, American English. I
point this out to avoid confusion; references to British English may appear
to contradict the foregoing.
If you feel the need to e-mail me, un-not my address first.

 ... and you have your answer!
^_^
Sebastiano
-- 
[after receiving a call from Palmer]
Robert Ellis : What are you doing in the same room with Bauer? I went to a
lot of trouble to make sure you two never met each other.