Negation and Questions
Negation of verbs usually takes place with the addition of the particle not (or its shortened form n't) to an auxiliary or copular verb, with do-support being used if there is otherwise no auxiliary. However if a sentence already contains a negative word (never, nothing, etc.), then there is not usually any additional not.
Questions (interrogative constructions) are generally formed using subject–auxiliary inversion, again using do-support if there is otherwise no auxiliary. In negative questions, it is possible to invert with just the auxiliary (should we not help?) or with the contracted negation (shouldn't we help?).
For full details on negation and question formation, see do-support, English auxiliaries and contractions, and the Negation and Questions sections of the English Grammar article.
Read more about this topic: Pluperfect Progressive
Famous quotes containing the words negation and/or questions:
“Michelangelo said to Pope Julius II, “Self negation is noble, self-culture is beneficent, self-possession is manly, but to the truly great and inspiring soul they are poor and tame compared to self-abuse.” Mr. Brown, here, in one of his latest and most graceful poems refers to it in an eloquent line which is destined to live to the end of time—”None know it but to love it, None name it but to praise.””
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)
“The first questions are always to be asked, and the wisest doctor is gravelled by the inquisitiveness of a child.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)