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An affirmative (positive) form is used to express the validity or truth of a basic assertion, while a negative form expresses its falsity. For example, the affirmative sentence "Joe is here" asserts that it is true that Joe is currently located near the speaker. Conversely, the negative sentence "Joe is not here" asserts that it is not true ...
The declarative sentence is the most common kind of sentence in language, in most situations, and in a way can be considered the default function of a sentence. What this means essentially is that when a language modifies a sentence in order to form a question or give a command, the base form will always be the declarative.
Yes and no, or similar word pairs, are expressions of the affirmative and the negative, respectively, in several languages, including English. Some languages make a distinction between answers to affirmative versus negative questions and may have three-form or four-form systems.
There may also be differences of syntax between affirmative and negative imperative sentences. In some cases the imperative form of the verb is itself different when negated. A distinct negative imperative form is sometimes said to be in prohibitive mood (abbreviated PROH). Negative imperatives tell the subject to not do something.
The actual set of contexts that license particular polarity items is not as easily defined as a simple distinction between affirmative and negative sentences. Baker [2] noted that double negation may provide an acceptable context for positive polarity items: I can't believe you don't fancy her somewhat. John doesn't have any potatoes
The two possible qualities are called affirmative and negative. [4] For instance, an A-proposition ("All S is P") is affirmative since it states that the subject is contained within the predicate. On the other hand, an O-proposition ("Some S is not P") is negative since it excludes the subject from the predicate.
For example, my very good friend Peter is a phrase that can be used in a sentence as if it were a noun, and is therefore called a noun phrase. Similarly, adjectival phrases and adverbial phrases function as if they were adjectives or adverbs, but with other types of phrases, the terminology has different implications.
In linguistics, a yes–no question, also known as a binary question, a polar question, or a general question, [1] or closed-ended question is a question whose expected answer is one of two choices, one that provides an affirmative answer to the question versus one that provides a negative answer to the question.