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Anonymous Posted 15 years ago
Grammar

A sentence

Hello,

Could you tell me please if it's not a mistake to say that this sentence can be read in two different ways.

There was not a particle of evidence. It's a simple negative sentence.

There was( if we pause after 'was' and stress 'not a particle of evidence' it will make this sentence different, and it will change it's meaning) not a particle of evidence.

I am really confused Emotion: tongue tied. Or in this sentence; "There was not a book on the table. Can a pause after 'was' and stressing the last part of the sentence change it's meaning here too?
  

Top answer

I know of no such rule. CB

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  • I know of no such rule.
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6 Answers
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I know of no such rule.

CB
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I can think of an example when the stress changes the meaning.

She had not one bad thing to say about him. In its simple, usual form, it means she said only good things.

You could say "She had not ONE bad thing to say about him -- she had dozens!" to mean that her description contained many bits of bad commentary about him.

However, you would not say the
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ninaniaThere was not a particle of evidence. It's a simple negative sentence.
There was( if we pause after 'was' and stress 'not a particle of evidence' it will make this sentence different, and it will change it's meaning) not a particle of evidence.
No. Sorry.
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