These questions ask you to build or recognise a negative verb phrase without changing its tense or adding the same grammatical marking twice. The central move is to find the finite verb before placing not.
Find what already carries tense
Read the complete verb phrase and ask whether it already contains be, a modal, or auxiliary have. If it does, attach not to that finite auxiliary. If an ordinary lexical verb stands alone in the present or past simple, supply the correct form of do and return the lexical verb to its bare form.
| Verb pattern | Negative method |
|---|---|
| Present simple lexical verb | Use do not or does not plus the bare verb: “Mina doesn't store receipts here.” |
| Past simple lexical verb | Use did not plus the bare verb: “The engine didn't start at dawn.” |
| A form of be | Add not directly: “The corridor isn't narrow.” |
| A modal auxiliary | Add not to the modal and keep the following verb bare: “Guests cannot enter early.” |
| A perfect construction | Add not to have, has or had and keep the participle: “We haven't finished the map.” |
| A statement with I am | Use “I am not” or contract the subject and verb as “I'm not”; the general standard statement form is not amn't. |
Use a two-part check. First confirm that the auxiliary expresses the required person and tense. Then inspect the form after it: do and modals require a bare verb, whereas perfect have requires a past participle. This separates a genuine negative from a phrase that has the right not but the wrong following form.
Common form traps
- Agreement appears on both does and the lexical verb. Once does carries third-person singular marking, the following verb cannot keep its -s ending.
- Past tense appears on both did and the lexical verb. Did already locates the clause in the past, so an -ed or irregular past form after it marks time twice.
- Do is placed before be or a modal. Be and modals accept not themselves, and a modal must be followed by a bare verb without an agreement ending or past ending.
- Do replaces auxiliary have in a perfect construction. That changes the given verb phrase instead of negating it; keep have, attach not to it, and retain the participle.
Try it
Which sentence misuses a nonstandard contraction for I am in an ordinary negative statement?
- I amn't responsible for the rota.
- I'm not available before noon.
- I am not listed as a driver.
- I'm not carrying the master key.
Select all sentences that avoid double marking in the negative verb phrase.
- This folder doesn't contain invoices.
- The guard cannot enters the vault.
- We did not reset the router.
- Paula has not finished the audit.
Transform "The suppliers have replied to the revised schedule" into a contracted negative. Replace [have replied]: "The suppliers ___ to the revised schedule."