La négation unique et les termes négatifs en anglais : grammaire anglaise / définition
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La négation unique et les termes négatifs
Principe de la négation unique : toute proposition négative ne doit comporter qu'une seule négation.
Certains pronoms ou adverbes comme no, nothing (rien), nobody (personne), never (jamais) sont dits termes négatifs. Ils expriment à eux seuls la négation :
Certains pronoms ou adverbes comme no, nothing (rien), nobody (personne), never (jamais) sont dits termes négatifs. Ils expriment à eux seuls la négation :
He never comes over for dinner. Il ne vient jamais dîner à la maison.
There is nothing to worry about. Il n'y a pas de souci à se faire.
Nobody will work tomorrow. Personne ne travaillera demain.
Lorsque la phrase comporte déjà une négation, on emploie :
any à la place de no,
anything à la place de nothing,
anybody à la place de nobody,
ever à la place de never...
any à la place de no,
anything à la place de nothing,
anybody à la place de nobody,
ever à la place de never...
He has no friends.
He doesn't have any friends. Il n'a pas d'amis.
He doesn't have any friends. Il n'a pas d'amis.
I see nothing from here.
I can't see anything from here. Je ne vois rien d'ici.
I can't see anything from here. Je ne vois rien d'ici.
She never calls me.
She doesn't ever call me. Elle ne m'appelle jamais.
She doesn't ever call me. Elle ne m'appelle jamais.
People never call me Mr. Cheeter...
Nobody ever calls me Mr. Cheeter... Jamais personne ne m'appelle M. Cheeter...
(Nobody porte la négation)
Nobody ever calls me Mr. Cheeter... Jamais personne ne m'appelle M. Cheeter...
(Nobody porte la négation)
Exercice 1
I don't want to see your ugly face again.
I don't ever want to see your ugly face again.
ever: 'Ever' is the best choice here. In a sentence which already carries negation, 'ever' is used as the affirmative equivalent of 'never' to express the idea of something which happens 'at no time' or 'on no occasion'
never: Using 'never' forms a double negative, which is grammatically incorrect.
always: 'Always' does not make sense in this construction. In English, 'always' is rarely used in negative constructions.
sometimes: 'Sometimes' does not make sense here. The construction 'I don't' is never followed by 'sometimes' to express frequency.
Exercice 2
Horatio has liked Kevin very much.
Horatio has never liked Kevin very much.
never: Because this sentence carries no negation, we must use the negative term 'never' to create a grammatically correct statement.
ever: Using 'ever' forms a grammatically incorrect sentence. In order to correctly express this thought in an affirmative construction, we must use a negative term.
Exercice 3
Icarus's mother advises him to leave home without a clean pair of underwear.
Icarus's mother advises him never to leave home without a clean pair of underwear.
never: Because this sentence carries no negation, we must use the negative term 'never' to create a grammatically correct statement.
ever: Using 'ever' forms a grammatically incorrect sentence. In an affirmative construction such as this one, we must use a negative term to correctly complete the sentence.
Exercice 4
Polly says that she hasn't told a lie, but we know better.
Polly says that she hasn't ever told a lie, but we know better.
ever: 'Ever' is the best choice here. Because this construction is negative ('hasn't' carries the negation), we must use the affirmative term 'ever' to complete the sentence correctly.
never: 'Hasn't' already carries the negation of this sentence. Using 'never' forms a double negative, which is grammatically incorrect.
always: 'Always' does not fit in this sentence. 'Hasn't' and 'always' cannot be used together to express frequency.
Exercice 5
Polly says Kevin doesn't know how to do right.
Polly says Kevin doesn't know how to do anything right.
anything: 'Anything' is the correct choice because 'doesn't' carries the negation of the sentence.
nothing: 'Nothing' is incorrect because 'doesn't' already carries the negation of the phrase. To say Kevin 'doesn't know how to do nothing right' forms a double negative, which is grammatically incorrect.
never: 'Never' does not make sense here.
ever: 'Ever' doesn't fit in this sentence.
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