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Negation & Questions
Forming negative sentences and yes/no and Wh- questions using do, does, is, and are
Not only...but also + inversion
Not only did she win, but she also broke the record — inversion after "not only"
No sooner...than + inversion
No sooner had I sat down than the phone rang — inversion in first clause
Nor / Neither + inversion
She can't swim, nor can she ride a bike / He won't help, neither will she
Scope of negation: not all vs all...not
Not all politicians are corrupt ≠ All politicians are not corrupt — very different
Negative implication: litotes
"Not bad!" (= quite good) / "It's not the most exciting..." (understatement)
Complex question tags
You'd better come, hadn't you? / Someone called, didn't they? / Nothing happened, did it?
Negative prefix: invaluable ≠ without value
invaluable = extremely valuable (not worthless); uncanny, unkempt, unruly
Reported speech: tense backshift
"Where do you live?" → She asked me where I lived — tense shifts back one step
Reported questions: word order
"What is she doing?" → He asked what she was doing — no inversion in reported
Rhetorical negation in discourse
Not without reason did she refuse / Not for nothing is he called an expert
