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Kooyeen Posted 19 years ago
Grammar

to not take any risks

0 Hi, 02br
00I'd like an opinion about these:02br
01ol
    01li
  1. 00I did it in order to not take any risks.02li
    2. 01li
  2. 00I did it to not take any risks.02li
    3. 01li
  3. 00I did it just to not take any risks.02li
    4. 02ol
01i01b00To not take02b02i00 or 01b01i00not to take02i02b00?02br
02br
00Thanks 050010id1
  

Top answer

0 It seems people still don't like to split infinitives:02br 02br 00 Google hits: 02br 00 66,500 for "to not take any"02br 00 636,000 for 01font 00"not to take any"02font 0-

— Marius Hancu

  • 0 It seems people still don't like to split infinitives:02br 02br 00 Google hits: 02br 00 66,500 for "to not take any"02br 00 636,000 for 01font 00"not to take any"02font 0-
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8 Answers
0
0 It seems people still don't like to split infinitives:02br
02br
00 Google hits: 02br
00 66,500 for "to not take any"02br
00 636,000 for 01font00"not to take any"02font0-
0
0
0 An opinion:02br
02br
01i00I did it so I wouldn't have to take any risks.02br
00 I did it to avoid taking any risks.02br
00 I did it to be on the safe side.02i02br
02br
01i00not to take02i00 if you're just asking about the negation of an infinitive.02br
02br
00 CJ0-
0
0
0 Thank you.02br
02br
00Well, actually I was interested in the negation of a "infinitive of purpose" (I don't know what to call it, I don't even think it's actually an infinitive, it's when you use "to" in order to express a purpose).02br
02br
00I left early to catch the first train.02br
00I left early to not catch the next train. (= I left ear
0
0
1i00in order not to02i00 is what you want.02br
02br
00 Without the 01i00in order02i00 you can't have a negative infinitive of purpose. In that case you need 01i00so as not to02i00.02br
00 I think leaving early makes more sense if you don't want to miss the train -- not if you don't want to catch
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0
0 Thank you very much.02br
00Yes, your senteces are obviously the common ways to express that concept. Anyway, I see (on the net) that "in order to not" is often used, and someone claims it's the right one too... Basically, the source of my confusion was something I read on the net, and I'd also like to post the link, in case someone wants to comment further:02br
02br
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0 While I don't disagree with anything said on that site regarding "to not get fat", I have to say that I find the negative infinitive of purpose very forced, and in any case, entirely avoidable through various rewordings which I already presented above. What is so difficult about saying "so I don't get fat", after all? The only proper place for such a structure is in very informal speec
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0 01blockquote
01cite10CalifJim12cite10 I find the negative infinitive of purpose very forced, and in any case, entirely avoidable through various rewordings which I already presented above. What is so difficult about saying "so I don't get fat", after all?12br
12blockquote
10Yes, you are right, but I really wanted to "
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0So what was it like (to force the negative infinitive of purpose)? Was it fun? 050010id1
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