Chinese vs. English

A synthetic language is characterized by frequent and systematic use of inflected forms to express grammatical relationships. An analytic language is marked by a relatively frequent use of function words, auxiliary verbs, and changes in word order to express syntactic relations, rather than of inflected forms.

Chinese vs. English Chinese belongs to the category of analytic language. English falls into the category of synthetic-analytic language. So when this two languages share some similarities in expressing negative meaning, they still keep some differences.

Similarity Using negative words Chinese ： “ 不 ” 、 “ 没（有） ” “ 否 ” 、 “ 勿 ” 、 “ 别 ” 、 “ 莫 ” 、 “ 非 ” 、 “ 无 ” … English: adv……….. never, not; adj……….. neither ， no; n …………. nobody ， nothing; pron ……….. neither ， none; conjunction …neither ， nor…

Chinese to English Eg. [1] 人不犯我，我不犯人。（谓语否定） We will not attack unless we are attacked. [2] 她还没有回来。（谓语否定） She has not come back yet. [3] 这个荣誉来得不容易。（状语否定） It is not easy to get this honour. [4] 没人知道这是怎么回事。（主语否定） No one has any idea that what has happened.

English to Chinese Eg. 1 This plan won’t work. （谓语否定） 这个计划行不通的。 2 He is not a teacher. （表语否定） 他不是老师。 3 No one knows where he is. （主语否定） 没人知道他在哪里。 4 We fear neither hardship nor tiredness. （宾语 否定） 我们不怕艰难和困苦。

Differences 1. Affix in English Prefix: a-, in- （ im-, il-, ir- ）, dis-, non-, un- Suffix: -less Eg. [1] I dislike him. （ =I don’t like him ） 我不喜欢他。 [2] It’s impossible to forget him. (=it is not possible to forget him) 不可能忘记他。 [3] His arrival is unexpected. (=his arrival is out of my expectation) 没想到他回来。 [4] He is a careless driver ．（ =He is a driver lacking care ） 他开车很不小心。

2. Using partially negative words such as little ， few ， hardly ， barely ， rarely, seldom, scarcely in English Eg. [1] There is little water in the cup. （杯中没多少 水了） [2] There are few people on the square ．（广场 上没什么人） [3] We rarely see each other. （我们几乎不见面） [4] She rarely shows her feelings. ( 她不常表露自 己的感情 )

3. Using indirect negation in English A strange feature of the syntax of subordination in colloquial English is the transfer of the negative from a subordinating that clause, where semantically it belongs, to the main clause (Quirk, 1972:789).

Eg. 1.I don’t think he works hard. 我认为他工作不努力。 2.I don’t reckon he is my friend. 我不认为他是我的朋友。 3.It is not our opinion that your plan is a workable one. 我们认为, 你的计划不可行。 4.It is not our hope that you will be involved in trouble. 我们希望你不要卷人纠纷。