Negative context
September 2nd, 2008, by Nicolas Bottari
否定的な内容の英文を書く際には、文法に注意しなければなりません。
単純に肯定文に“not” もしくは “no” を入れるだけでは済まない場合が多いのです。
以下に、否定文を作成する際に起こる文法上の変化を見てみましょう。
[複数形の使用]否定文では必ず複数形が使われます。
○: None of the rats exhibited any abnormalities in this experiment.
×: No rat exhibited an abnormality in this experiment.
○: None of the rat livers showed any evidence of toxicity.
×: No rat liver showed evidence of toxicity.
[or vs and] 否定文では “and” ではなく“or” が使われます。
○: The level of the compound did not decrease in the blood or tissue.
×: The level of the compound did not decrease in the blood and tissue.
[all vs any] 否定文では “all” ではなく“any” が使われます。
○: No abnormalities were detected in any animals.
×: No abnormalities were detected in all animals.
[either vs both]否定文では “both” ではなく“either” が使われます。
○: The desired results were not obtained with either method.
×: The desired results were not obtained with both methods.
[None vs all]否定文の中では “all” ではなく“none” が使われます。
○: None of the animals were affected.
×: All of the animals were not affected.