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I’ve seen no one/nobody. → I haven’t seen anyone/anybody.<br />

I’ve bought none of them. → I haven’t bought any of them.<br />

I’ve done nothing today. → I haven’t done anything today.<br />

I’ve been nowhere today. → I haven’t been anywhere today.<br />

Cancelling what has just been said: ‘No, not Wednesday’<br />

We can cancel what we have just said with not:<br />

See you Wednesday – no, not Wednesday, Thursday. (Not *No Wednesday*)<br />

Negative questions: ‘Can’t you …?’<br />

1. In negative questions, the word order of the full form is different from the short form:<br />

full form: Did he not explain the situation to you?<br />

short form: Didn’t he explain the situation to you?<br />

We normally use the short form in conversation and the full form only for emphasis.<br />

2. Depending on the stress and intonation we use, we can:<br />

- express disbelief, surprise: Can’t you really ride a bicycle?<br />

- invite the answer ‘Yes’: Don’t you remember our holiday in Spain?<br />

- persuade: Won’t you please help me?<br />

- express annoyance: Can’t you ever shut the door behind you?<br />

- make exclamations: Isn’t it hot in here!<br />

C. Tag questions and echo tags<br />

Tag questions 1: ‘It is …, isn’t it?/ ‘It isn’t … is it?’<br />

1. A tag question is a short question (e.g. have you?/ haven’t you?) that follows a statement.<br />

We form tag questions with auxiliaries (be, have, can, may, etc.) and do, does, did.<br />

2. <strong>The</strong>y are affirmative – negative: John was annoyed, wasn’t he? You like fish, don’t you?<br />

or negative – affirmative: John wasn’t annoyed, was he? You don’t like fish, do you?<br />

3. Many languages have a phrase which means ‘isn’t that so?’ In English, we use tags to say<br />

this, but we also use expressions like don’t you think?, right? etc.<br />

4. If our voice goes up on the tag, we are asking a real question which needs an answer:<br />

You left the gas on, didn’t you? – Yes, I did./ No, I didn’t.<br />

You didn’t leave the gas on, did you? – Yes, I did./ No, I didn’t.<br />

5. If our voice goes down on the tag, we want the listener to agree with us and we don’t<br />

usually expect an answer: You locked the door, didn’t you? (= I assume you did.)<br />

You didn’t lock the door, did you? (= I assume you didn’t.)<br />

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