Negation – Can “Not” Replace Words with Negative Prefixes?

negationprefixes

Sometimes it's difficult for me as a learner to remember the negative word as a new word with prefix. For example, the negative of pleasant is unpleasant.

Can I safely use not instead? I'm not intending to not learn new words, but I want to prevent something awkward happening if, for example, I want to say the negative word for honest and mistakenly I say unhonest instead of dishonest.

Is it always safe to use 'not' for words I want to negate, or there are particular words where it isn't safe?

Best Answer

Often the "un" form is stronger than the not form.

               happy      neutral       sad
more happy <----------|------|------|--------->less happy

Unhappy is often roughly the same as "sad", but "not happy" could include "neutral" and "sad"

And there are things to watch out for:

You look not happy.

You don't look happy.

Only the second of these is idiomatic.

While you can be understood with "not ...", developing fluency means being confident with the un- in- dis- and other negating prefixes.

In short, it is unsafe to default to 'not' as your meaning could easily be misconstrued. It's also not a good habit to form for your long term progress.

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