Talk:not the end of the world

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Latest comment: 3 years ago by Colin M in topic Part of speech
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Part of speech[edit]

Shouldn’t it be an adverb since it starts with ”not”? It isn’t a noun, that’s for sure but I’m not 100% sure it’s an adverb either.Jonteemil (talk) 14:54, 2 February 2019 (UTC)Reply

I'm sure it's not an adverb. Equinox 15:09, 2 February 2019 (UTC)Reply
What is it then? It seems very weird to me that a noun can begin with not, to me the noun is what follows not. But I can be wrong. @Equinox, du you know?Jonteemil (talk) 15:20, 2 February 2019 (UTC)Reply
Technically, it is a noun phrase - but we call them nouns. SemperBlotto (talk) 15:22, 2 February 2019 (UTC)Reply
Aha, didn’t think noun phrases could start with an adverb but ok.Jonteemil (talk) 15:31, 2 February 2019 (UTC)Reply
An adverb can be attached to a verb phrase ("he did it slowly" etc.): that's definitely not true here. Equinox 01:02, 8 February 2019 (UTC)Reply
Pretty sure it's not a noun phrase. Compare
  1. The end of the world is coming on Tuesday.
    1. Not the end of the world is coming on Tuesday.
  2. We're awaiting the end of the world.
    1. We're awaiting not the end of the world.
The "not" belongs to the (spectre of) the verb "to be". Hence this belongs in Category:English non-constituents. I think the least wrong pos header would just be "phrase". Colin M (talk) 02:01, 27 March 2021 (UTC)Reply