which adverbs can't have a 'not' after them?

[dihen]

Originally Posted by Philly

.
I agree it wouldn't be terribly usual, ...

Why not "...wouldn't be terribly unusual, ..."?
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Originally Posted by dihen

I noticed that in English, it often sounds strange to place adverbs of frequency, time, or degree, before negation; why?
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consider these:
"not recently/currently/lately/formerly/originally/usually/generally/normally/typically/at first/before/in fact/previously"
is more common than
"recently/currently/lately/formerly/originally/usually/generally/typically/normally/at first/before/in fact/previously not"

Can someone at least tell me the difference of placing "not" before the adverb and placing "not" after the adverb, such as? :
`
"it is currently not" and "it is not currently"
`
"I have recently not" and "I have not recently"

[Philly]

Originally Posted by dihen

Why not "...wouldn't be terribly unusual, ..."?

Because saying "unusual" doesn't mean the same thing, dihen! That would mean exactly the opposite of what I wanted to say.
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In my opinion, "almost can't" is definitely not a typical collocation. I just wasn't willing to completely rule out the usage. If someone were to use it, I'd understand the meaning to be similar to "can hardly."
.

[dihen]

Originally Posted by Philly

Because saying "unusual" doesn't mean the same thing, dihen! That would mean exactly the opposite of what I wanted to say.

So you were using "terribly" as "very"?

[Philly]

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Yes, that's right.
.

[dihen]

Originally Posted by Philly

Yes, that's right.

Actually, the main reason that I suggested "terribly unusual" was because I thought that "...it wouldn't be terribly usual" meant "...it wouldn't be terribly usual, but it's still somewhat usual.".

[Philly]

Hi dihen
What I wanted to say is that almost can't is not a standard or typical collocation. It is unusual.
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BUT I think it is wrong to claim that a native speaker would never say it.
.

[dihen]

Will a native speaker say "They are both not coming."?

[Casiopea]

Originally Posted by dihen

Can someone at least tell me the difference of placing "not" before the adverb and placing "not" after the adverb, such as?

"not" is a pre-modifier:

[1] not recently seen
=> here time is negated; it's in focus.

[2] recently not seen
=> here the act is negated; it's in focus.

[dihen]

Will native speakers say these?
`
"almost don't need to"
"almost don't have to"

[RonBee]

Originally Posted by dihen

Will native speakers say these?
`
"almost don't need to"
"almost don't have to"

Yes, that is possible. (Say: "Would native speakers say these?")