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Anonymous Posted 15 years ago
Grammar

Need not

What exactly is "need not"?
For example, "In practice, several phases may be grouped together,
and the intermediate representations between the grouped phases need not be
constructed explicitly".

Does it mean "mustn't"?

Thank you for your help!

Barack from Israel.
  

Top answer

No mustn't is different. Need not means that you don't have to.

— Dave Phillips

  • No mustn't is different.
  • Need not means that you don't have to.
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7 Answers
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No mustn't is different. Need not means that you don't have to.
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Thank you guys very much.

So using "need not" is common? Do you use it when talking to friends, or is it only used for "high level" English?

Thanks again, Barack.
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You use it at different levels. Normally it is spoken rather than written.
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Hi,

To me, 'need not' would be more often written than spoken. In spoken English, I'd usually contract it to needn't.

Clive
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Anonymous .. "need not" ... Do you use it when talking to friends
Almost never. I use "don't have to" 99.9999% of the time; "need not" or "needn't" 0.0001% of the time.
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Oh good, because I've actually never heard it on television or on video games (while playing with friends from different countries).

Thank you for your replys, Barack.
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