Use of "not"

Question

please explain the difference, correctness and grammatical information of the below

"He is still not happy."
"He still is not happy."
"He is not still happy."
"He still isn't happy."
"He isn't still happy."

Mister Micawber · Accepted Answer

He is still not happy.
He still is not happy.
He still isn't happy.
He's still not happy.

These are the natural placements for these words. I find that all of your examples are attempting to convey essentially the same information: 'he is not happy yet'.

Guest · Answer

is there a grammatical reason why "still" should be in the place of each sentence, rather than "natural placement"?

Mister Micawber · Answer

Unfamiliarity with the language?

Guest · Answer

trying to go into linguistics in university, and just wanted to get some hands on learning,

so can anyone answer the question?

Mister Micawber · Answer

'Not' is a negator: an adverbial function word used to negate a word or group of words.

'I am not happy.'
'You are not Mr. Micawber.'
'Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.'
'Do not forsake me, oh my darling.'

Is that enough? If not, [url="http://www.google.com/search?as_q=define%3Anot&num=10&hl=en&btnG=Google+Search&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&lr=lang_en&as_ft=i&as_filetype=&as_qdr=all&as_nlo=&as_nhi=&as_occt=any&as_dt=i&as_sitesearch=&safe=images"]TRY THIS[/url].

Oh, I see-- you are still talking about 'still'. If you are going to ask multiple questions, it would be to your benefit to register here at English Forums, so that we don't keep answering anonymous questions in the Unapproved Posts file.

Use of "not"

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