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Davidrock65 Posted 20 years ago
Grammar

to not or not to

A. I want him not to/ to not come anywhere near my daughter. (= I don't want him to come anywhere near my daughter?)

B. I warned him not to/to not touch the pot.

C. He asked her not to/ to not give up on hope.

Some of the books I read use not to, the others(others or the others?) use to not.

Arer there any differences between not to and to not?

tks for your help.
  

Top answer

Some grammarians do not like their infinitives split (and this includes me in this case), so you will probably find more not to 's than to not 's. I see no difference in meaning, though I have read threads where posters perceive greater stress on the object when the infinitive is split.

— Mister Micawber

  • Some grammarians do not like their infinitives split (and this includes me in this case), so you will probably find more not to 's than to not 's.
  • I see no difference in meaning, though I have read threads where posters perceive greater stress on the object when the infinitive is split.
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11 Answers
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Some grammarians do not like their infinitives split (and this includes me in this case), so you will probably find more not to's than to not's. I see no difference in meaning, though I have read threads where posters perceive greater stress on the object when the infinitive is split.
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Dear Clive:

Thank you for your replying

I still have two questions here

A: I want him not to come anywhere closer near my daughter = I don't want him to come anywhere closer near my daughter? Which is more often used?

B. Some of the (nouns)....., the others/ others? .....

Some ....., the others/ others?

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Hi,

Dear Clive:

Thank you for your replying Perhaps you should be thanking MrM rather than me!

I still have two questions here

A: I want him not to come anywhere near my daughter = I don't want him to come anywhere near my daughter? Which is mo
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THANKS LOADS TO MrM!!!!!
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Here's an example of where the "to not" variant makes sense and the "not to" variant would seem to actually have the wrong meaning.

http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/002139.html
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Anonymousan example of where the "to not" variant makes sense
True, but I'm moving to France so as not to get fat (or some other rephrasing) would be perfectly fine, and would not split the infinitive.
CJ
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Davidrock65I want him not to come anywhere closer near my daughter = I don't want him to come anywhere closer near my daughter? Which is more often used?
In English the negation is raised to the main clause in almost all cases where the main verb is think or want.
I don't think he is ready, usually not I think he is not ready.
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Wouldn't "I'm moving to France in order not to get fat" be correct as well?
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The right use is 'not to'. You should not place anything between 'to' and the verb hence why 'not' comes before the infinitive.
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AnonymousWouldn't "I'm moving to France in order not to get fat" be correct as well?
Yes.

CJ
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