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Marshmellow_coffee Posted 17 years ago
Grammar

Placement of the word "not"

Hello,

If I'm using the phrase "in an attempt to" in a negative way, should it be "in an attempt to not..." or "in an attempt not to..."?

Sentence:
"In an attempt to not appear impolite, she let her smile hang on her face."

OR

"In an attempt not to appear impolite, she let her smile hang on her face."

Thanks ahead for any answers Emotion: big smile
  

Top answer

In an attempt NOT TO..... Just like: She asked me NOT TO do that. They told us NOT TO be late..

— Rafaelinrio

  • In an attempt NOT TO.....
  • Just like: She asked me NOT TO do that.
  • They told us NOT TO be late..
  • and so on.
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9 Answers
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In an attempt NOT TO.....

Just like: She asked me NOT TO do that.

They told us NOT TO be late..

and so on.
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I don't know. In an attempt to not be rude sounds more natural to me.
But then I have split infinitives before  when others didn't like it.
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Thanks Rafae and Grammar Geek Emotion: smile

Is there a right or wrong (like with strict grammar rules), or it is just a personal prefere
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Somewhere in here is a long thread about whether there is a difference in perception about "to not X" and "not to X" (with X being the verb). I'll never find it.

It seems that there is a difference in the mind of some, that "to not X" is more forceful, rather than just a split infinitive, than "not to X."

In this conversation:
A: Stop that!
B: Stop what? I'm not doing an
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I think that if you need to stress the negation, you usually stress the NOT and you split the infinitive.
I usually don't split the infinitive if I don't want to stress the NOT or it is really an infinitive (that is, the "to" is not a preposition). Ex:
I tried not to look at her....
I tired to not look at her...
I want a fast car to not get caught by the police.
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Is that a trick question? I eliminate "in order to" in favor of simply "to" whenever possible.

I want to study a lot so I don't become one of those morons you see on TV. (This what I would say, but it doesn't address the "not" question.)

So as to not become one of those morons you see on TV, I study hard. I'm sure there are others who would say "So as not to become..." I may e
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Grammar GeekIs that a trick question? I eliminate "in order to" in favor of simply "to" whenever possible.
Me too, but sometimes I feel I need to use "in order to" if I want to use a higher register... which wasn't the case in my example, since "study a lot so I don't become one of those morons" is not what you would say in a high register, LOL.
Anyway, it
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The thing is we'd better avoid splitting infinitives as much as we can because for many people, splitting infinitives sounds gramatically incocrrect. I remember my days back at school whenI had to write essays and my English teacher would always circle split infinites and tell me that spliting infinitives is wrong.

But anyways, concerning this, NOT TO or TO NOT depends on what message yo
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rafaelinrioI, myself use NOT TO most of the times and I think it's correct.

Examples: I work out every day in order not to be fat.
I don't drink before driving to not cause an accident.
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