Those pesky negatives (revisited)

[Dennis R. Preston]

Over the top it be; it was a typo for 'was not being.'

dInIs

>At 3:23 PM -0400 8/10/04, Dennis R. Preston wrote:
>>Wilson,
>>
>>We got different notions of 'right.' That's OK, but it's also the
>>case that I was not be idiomatic in my "translation." I also very
>>infrequently use to+not+v, but I am not so unfond of it as you appear
>>to be.
>>
>>dInIs
>>
>and FWIW there are 10,100 google hits on "tried to not", a more or
>less randomly chosen sequence with an infinitive split by "not", so
>dInIs's decision to not rule out this construction seems widely
>shared.  On the other hand, there are also 6910 hits attesting the
>"was not be" he invokes above, and that one really does strike me as
>a little over the top.  Oh well.
>
>larry


--
Dennis R. Preston
University Distinguished Professor
Department of Linguistics and Germanic, Slavic,
        Asian and African Languages
Wells Hall A-740
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824-1027 USA
Office: (517) 353-0740
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