Negation

Am Not/Did Not – Negation

Expressing something that is positive in a negative way is called negation.

For example:

She likes swimming. (positive) – She does not like swimming. (negative)
I drive to school. (positive) – I do not drive to school. (negative)

We use the verb “to be” in the present tense.

For present tense negation, the sentence construction will follow this guideline: Subject (We, He, I etc.)+ “are, is, am (to be verb)”+ “not, or doesn’t” + verb

He is handsome. – He is not handsome.
I am half Chinese. – I am not half Chinese.

For present progression we follow the same guideline:

Billy is playing outside. – Billy is not playing outside.
The girls are playing tag. – The girls are not playing tag.

When a sentence is written in the present tense but doesn’t have the “to be” verb, we use “do not” or “does not.”

Without the “to be” verb, present tense sentences follow this guideline: Subject (He, You, etc.) + do/does + “not” + verb

He likes my shoes. – He does not like my shoes.
I like bowling. – I do not like bowling.

When we construct a sentence with third person singular subjects, we use “does” and remove the “s” from the end of the verb. For example:

Negation for the sentence, “She sings” is written: “She does not sing.” We do not say: She does not sings.
He runs. – He does not run.

The past tense uses the verb “to be” and sentences are constructed using this guideline: Subject (they, he, etc.) + “were/was (to be verb)”+ “not”

They were on vacation. – They were not on vacation.
I was busy. – I was not busy.

Past progressive sentences follow the same guidelines:

I was busy when you called. – I was not busy when you called.
We were playing football yesterday. – We were not playing football yesterday.

When a sentence does not have the “to be” verb in past tense, we use “did” or “did not” and follow this guideline: Subject (he,they etc.) + “did” + “not” + verb

He drove a car. – He did not drive a car.
We had class yesterday. – We did not have class yesterday.