Negatives

Some sentences are written to convey an affirmative or negative connotation in order to influence or persuade a reader. Specific words are chosen to construct this affirmative or negative tone. The words purposely chosen to express a negative idea are sometimes referred to as a negation. The following lists are common negative words, adverbs and verbs used to illustrate a negative idea.

Negative words:

No

Not

None

No one

Nobody

Nothing

Neither

Nowhere

Never

Negative Adverbs:

Hardly

Scarcely

Barely

Negative verbs:

Doesn’t

Isn’t

Wasn’t

Shouldn’t

Wouldn’t

Couldn’t

Won’t

Can’t

Don’t

The previous list can be overwhelming, as there appears to be a lot of negative words that must be memorized. The easiest way to remember the proper word, adverb or verb to use when forming a negation is chose a word that implies no or none. Another trick is to think about the message the reader is to absorb from the sentence as a whole, and pick words that will ensure this meaning is conveyed.