Ambiguous negatives

In a negative structure, not can refer to different parts of a sentence. Compare:

• Adam didn’t write to Emma yesterday – he phoned her.
• Adam didn’t write to Emma yesterday – he wrote to Anna.
• Adam didn’t write to Emma yesterday – he wrote this morning.

The exact meaning is shown in speech by stress and intonation, and even in writing it is usually clear from the context and situation. However, confusions sometimes arise. They can usually be avoided by reorganising the sentence. Compare:

• The car crash didn’t kill him. (Did he live, or did something else kill him?)
• It wasn’t the car crash that killed him. (Only one possible meaning.)

Negative sentences with because-clauses are often ambiguous.

• I didn’t sing because Amy was there.

This sentence could mean ‘My reason for not singing was that Amy was there’ or ‘My reason for singing was not that Amy was there’. The first meaning could be shown clearly by putting the because-clause at the beginning.

• Because Amy was there, I didn’t sing.