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Rami1511 Posted 12 years ago
Grammar

"Didn't Feel" or "Felt Nothing"

"Did+not+verb" and "Verb+Nothing"

is there a difference (in meaning) ?
  

Top answer

"did not + verb" (by itself) only works with intransitive verbs; "verbed + nothing" only works with transitive verbs. So, your question is applicable only to verbs that can be either transitive or intransitive, and in contexts where both forms fit and make sense. Intransitive "feel" (at least, "feel" with no arguments) hardly exists, so I don't think that your example is very viable.

— GPY

  • "did not + verb" (by itself) only works with intransitive verbs; "verbed + nothing" only works with transitive verbs.
  • So, your question is applicable only to verbs that can be either transitive or intransitive, and in contexts where both forms fit and make sense.
  • Intransitive "feel" (at least, "feel" with no arguments) hardly exists, so I don't think that your example is very viable.
  • "eat" might be a better example: "I did not eat" and "I ate nothing" are pretty similar in meaning, but one or the other may seem to fit better in a given context.
  • Sometimes a verb's transitive and intransitive meanings may be quite different; for example, "They did not settle" could mean that they didn't become still and calm, while "They settled nothing" cannot mean that.
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2 Answers
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"did not + verb" (by itself) only works with intransitive verbs; "verbed + nothing" only works with transitive verbs. So, your question is applicable only to verbs that can be either transitive or intransitive, and in contexts where both forms fit and make sense. Intransitive "feel" (at least, "feel" with no arguments) hardly exists, so I don't think that your example is very viable. "eat" might b
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