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Teo Posted 21 years ago
Grammar
negative questions
Besides the position of "not", is there any difference in meaning or style between the following three sentences?
1. Is not the whole land before you?
2. Isn't the whole land before you?
3. Is the whole land not before you?
Thank you very much for your reply.
1. Is not the whole land before you?
2. Isn't the whole land before you?
3. Is the whole land not before you?
Thank you very much for your reply.
Top answer
Hello Teo 1. Is not the whole land before you? 2.
- Hello Teo 1.
- Is not the whole land before you?
- 2.
- Isn't the whole land before you?
- 3.
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13 Answers
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Hello Teo
The sentence #2 is the form most common and most natural.
The sentence #3 is OK, though it sounds a little too formal.
paco
The sentence #1 sounds very awkward, almost ungrammatical.
1. Is not the whole land before you?
2. Isn't the whole land before you?
3. Is the whole land not before you?
The sentence #2 is the form most common and most natural.
The sentence #3 is OK, though it sounds a little too formal.
paco
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Hello Teo again
Let's start with the normal predicate "The whole land is before you". And first let's negate it and then change it to a question form by inverting the subject and the finite verbal. Then the process would be like as the below:
(Informal NEG) The whole land isn't before you. -> inversion -> Isn't the whole land before you?
(Formal NEG) The whole land i
Let's start with the normal predicate "The whole land is before you". And first let's negate it and then change it to a question form by inverting the subject and the finite verbal. Then the process would be like as the below:
(Informal NEG) The whole land isn't before you. -> inversion -> Isn't the whole land before you?
(Formal NEG) The whole land i
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Interesting. It doesn't seem incorrect to me in all cases, although almost all cases where the subject is a pronoun seem incorrect.
Is not he the president? (Seems incorrect.)
Is not the whole land before you? (Seems pompous or poetic or archaic, but not incorrect.)
Is not he the president? (Seems incorrect.)
Is not the whole land before you? (Seems pompous or poetic or archaic, but not incorrect.)
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Hello CJ
Maybe 'incorrect' is incorrrect. But Larsen-Freeman (1983) said that style is 'an archaic historical vestige'. By the way I'd like to know why pronominal subjects and non-pronominal subjects are different in the allowance of the construct <Is Subject not ...>. Could you kindly explain the reason in a way we ESL studnts can understand?
paco
Maybe 'incorrect' is incorrrect. But Larsen-Freeman (1983) said that style is 'an archaic historical vestige'. By the way I'd like to know why pronominal subjects and non-pronominal subjects are different in the allowance of the construct <Is Subject not ...>. Could you kindly explain the reason in a way we ESL studnts can understand?
paco
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I'm afraid I can't explain it. I deliberately used the word "seem" to indicate that this is just an impressionistic view, and not something founded in anything deeper than that. Maybe others will post more thoughts on the subject.
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Sentence #1 is quoted from the New International Version of the Holy Bible. So it may be a formally acceptable (perhaps unidiomatic) sentence.
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I find nothing wrong with all three. 'Isn't', of course, is the contraction of 'is not'. There could be more than a Biblical reason for not wanting to contract the words.
'Is not he the President?' seems viable to me, if I'm in the middle of pontificating, for instance.
'Is not he the President?' seems viable to me, if I'm in the middle of pontificating, for instance.
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Hello Teo
You can use that construct in your essays if you like. It could be accepted by teachers, if they have nostalgia for the good old days.
paco
You can use that construct in your essays if you like. It could be accepted by teachers, if they have nostalgia for the good old days.
paco
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Some speakers accept a third construction, also rather formal, in which the full particle is in the same position as the enclitic:
Is not history a social science?
This construction is especially likely in formal contexts where the subject is lenghthy:
Is not history a social science?
This construction is especially likely in formal contexts where the subject is lenghthy:
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