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Thread: unfriendly vs. not friendly

  1. #1
    palinkasocsi is offline Member
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    Default unfriendly vs. not friendly

    Dear all,

    Can anyone tell me the difference (in meaning, reference, etc.) between:

    1. John is not friendly.
    2. John is unfriendly.

    Many thanks.

    P.

  2. #2
    tedtmc is offline Key Member
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    Default Re: unfriendly vs. not friendly

    unfriendly = not friendly
    no difference.

    other eg. - unsociable=not sociable, unkind=not kind

    not a teacher
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  3. #3
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    stuartnz is offline Senior Member
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    Default Re: unfriendly vs. not friendly

    Quote Originally Posted by palinkasocsi View Post
    Dear all,

    Can anyone tell me the difference (in meaning, reference, etc.) between:

    1. John is not friendly.
    2. John is unfriendly.

    Many thanks.

    P.
    (not a professional teacher) The first is passive. He is not friendly, he does not display a friendly attitude. It describes the passive absence of a positive attribute.

    The second is active. He is unfriendly, he is hostile and acts in an unfriendly manner, as opposed to merely refraining from acting in a friendly manner.
    palinkasocsi likes this.

  4. #4
    palinkasocsi is offline Member
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    Default Re: unfriendly vs. not friendly

    Could you tell me contexts of usage to make the difference more clear to me?

    P.

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