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Anonymous Posted 17 years ago
Grammar

"I think I have not..."

Hi there,

I am trying to settle a bet with a friend about English grammar. My friend wrote:

"I think I have not got them."

I want to know if this is correct grammar or not. Obviously a better way to word the statement is "I don't think I have them", but I just want to know if my friends' grammar is correct or incorrect. Please help. Thanks.
Dan
  

Top answer

First of all: "my friend 's grammar". There is nothing ungrammatical in I think I have not got them , but even I, a nonnative speaker, usually avoid it. The simple reason is that people usually say I don't think...

— Cool Breeze

  • First of all: "my friend 's grammar".
  • There is nothing ungrammatical in I think I have not got them , but even I, a nonnative speaker, usually avoid it.
  • The simple reason is that people usually say I don't think...
  • and because it it the more common way to express one's opinion, it just sounds better to most natives.
  • As there is no Language Academy in the English speaking world, there is no authority whose opinion about this is the ultimate truth.
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2 Answers
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First of all: "my friend's grammar". There is nothing ungrammatical in I think I have not got them, but even I, a nonnative speaker, usually avoid it. The simple reason is that people usually say I don't think... and because it it the more common way to express one's opinion, it just sounds better to most natives.

As there is
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CB couldn't have set it better.

There are many ways for statements to be correct/grammatical, without being very natural or very likely to be said.

That means you can almost always imagine a situation in which a sentence could be more likely/natural, even if the situation is far-fetched. Many of the "incorrect" responses on tests can be correct if inserted into unlikely situat
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