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Anonymous Posted 10 years ago
Grammar

to be not

Obviously "Europe is said not to be safe to travel" is correct. But I wonder if it is grammatical to say "Europe is said to be not safe to travel"
  

Top answer

I'm sure it would be grammatically correct. After all, in speech you often decide things as you speak, and the "not" may end up after the "to be". However "to be not" doesn't sound nearly so good as "not to be", probably because the word "unsafe" ("said to be unsafe for travel") is available, and also to be not safe for travel makes it sound like "not safe for travel" is a quote of someone else (extracted from their saying "it is not safe to travel") whereas "to be unsafe for travel" is natural as one's own words.

— Meteorquake

  • I'm sure it would be grammatically correct.
  • After all, in speech you often decide things as you speak, and the "not" may end up after the "to be".
  • However "to be not" doesn't sound nearly so good as "not to be", probably because the word "unsafe" ("said to be unsafe for travel") is available, and also to be not safe for travel makes it sound like "not safe for travel" is a quote of someone else (extracted from their saying "it is not safe to travel") whereas "to be unsafe for travel" is natural as one's own words.
  • d
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4 Answers
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I'm sure it would be grammatically correct. After all, in speech you often decide things as you speak, and the "not" may end up after the "to be". However "to be not" doesn't sound nearly so good as "not to be", probably because the word "unsafe" ("said to be unsafe for travel") is available, and also to be not safe for travel makes it sound like "not safe for travel" is a quote of someone else (e
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Obviously "Europe is said not to be safe to travel" is correct. But I wonder if it is grammatical to say "Europe is said to be not safe to travel"
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Welcome to EnglishForward, Dragonrain.
Thank you for registering.

The second sentence, while grammatical, is very awkward.

These are better:
"Europe is said to be not safe for travel."
"Europe is said to be not safe for travellers."
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Anonymoussaid not to be safe to travel
My choice would be ... said to be unsafe for travel.

CJ
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