|
ESL Forum:
Techniques and methods
in Language Teaching
Games, activities
and teaching ideas
Grammar and
Linguistics
Teaching material
Concerning
worksheets
Concerning
powerpoints
Concerning online
exercises
Make suggestions,
report errors
Ask for help
Message board
|
ESL forum >
Grammar and Linguistics > Not to or to not?
Not to or to not?
|
S.Reisner
|
Not to or to not?
|
Dear friends,
I �ve always learned to say: I hope NOT TO meet him again, or he asked me NOT TO tell anybody. But I �ve heard native speakers saying I hope TO NOT...
Is is also correct?
Thanks a lot,
Simone
|
24 Nov 2010
|
|
|
|
Apodo
|
|
The way you learned it is quite correct. It is the formal way it should be written.
Speaking is a different matter, and the words are often used the other way round. It is normally considerd best not to split infinitives ( TO DO , TO TELL, TO SPLIT etc), but the negative here follows the same speech pattern:- He asked me to +the rest of the sentence, which is why it is used. IMHO
He asked me to do something.
He asked me to NOT do something.
|
24 Nov 2010
|
|
|
|
|
