-n't

Appendix:Variations of "nt" English Alternative forms en -'nt obsolete Etymology en :der not From both univerbations of en not and some preceding words (see usage notes), with following elision of the medial vowel, as well as univerbations of already reduced en n't with preceding words. Pronunciation en /(ə)nt/ Suffix en no longer productive unless humorous Negates the meaning of the clause in which it occurs. en It is a beautiful bouquet! You needn't've bothered, thank you. Usage notes This contraction does not receive stress, even for contrast: either you DID or you DIDn't. The suffix en -n’t can only be added to auxiliary verbs, including en dare and en need in certain uses (see en daredn't), as well as main verbs en be (in almost all uses) and en have (in some uses). Indeed, in some dialects, not all auxiliary verbs accept en -n’t; for example, en mayn't mayn’t is present in some dialects and absent in others. Some verbs change their form when en -n’t is added; for example, en shall + en -n’t is usually en shan't shan’t, and en am + en -n’t is frequently en aren't aren’t or en ain't ain’t (though all three of these are dialect-dependent). Though verbs with en -n’t are usually considered contractions of versions using the adverb en not, grammatically they behave somewhat differently. For example, when subject and verb are inverted, en -n’t remains attached to the verb, whereas en not does not: Isn’t that difficult? Is that not difficult? Semantically, en -n’t may have either “high attachment” or “low attachment”, depending primarily on the verb. For example, “I can’t leave” means “It is not the case that I can leave” (usually “I am unable to leave”), whereas “I shouldn’t leave” means basically “I should stay” (which is a narrower statement, and therefore a stronger one, than “It is not the case that I should leave”). (“I can stay”, by contrast, is very different from “I can’t leave.”) Similar variation is seen with the adverb en not, as well as various other negative constructions. Derived terms en Anagrams en nt TN Tn tn en contractions