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Believer Posted 18 years ago
Grammar
Use 'to' or not
Hi,
I almost always try to put the word 'to' in front of the phrase 'not to' in the sort of sentences. Can you give me a convincing reason why it is not correct to do so?
1. ... warning us (to??) not to play in school again.
2. We must be especially careful (to??) not to use them in formal, academic prose.
I almost always try to put the word 'to' in front of the phrase 'not to' in the sort of sentences. Can you give me a convincing reason why it is not correct to do so?
1. ... warning us (to??) not to play in school again.
2. We must be especially careful (to??) not to use them in formal, academic prose.
Top answer
affirmative ... warning us to play ... negative ...
- affirmative ...
- warning us to play ...
- negative ...
- warning us not to play ...
- affirmative ...
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1 Answers
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affirmative ... warning us to play ...
negative ... warning us not to play ...
affirmative ... careful to use them ...
affirmative ... careful not to use them ...
Negate the infinitive (to X) by adding not in front of it (not to X).
There's no reason to add an extra to; the full infinitive already has to.
CJ
negative ... warning us not to play ...
affirmative ... careful to use them ...
affirmative ... careful not to use them ...
Negate the infinitive (to X) by adding not in front of it (not to X).
There's no reason to add an extra to; the full infinitive already has to.
CJ
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