[Grammar] Affirmative to Negative - He is a man of marked ability & He is a great poet

[Barman]

If I transform the following affirmative sentences into negative ones, are they all grammatically correct?

1) Affirmative: He is a man of marked ability.

Negative: a)He isn't a man of mean ability.
or
b) He is a man of no mean ability.


2) Affirmative: He is a great poet.

Negative: a) He isn't a mean poet.
or
b) He is no mean a poet.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

If I transform the following affirmative sentences into negative ones, are they all grammatically correct?

1) Affirmative: He is a man of marked ability.

That means he is very able.

Negative: a)He isn't a man of mean ability.

That's unnatural. It means he's not very able.

or
b) He is a man of no mean ability.

That means he is very able.


2) Affirmative: He is a great poet.

That means he's a great poet. (Duh.)

Negative: a) He isn't a mean poet.

It might mean:

- He's not a bad bad poet. (But the phrasing isn't natural.)
- He's not a nasty poet. (The phrasing is natural.)

or
b) He is no mean [STRIKE]a[/STRIKE] poet.

As corrected, it means he's a good poet.

Does that answer the question?

 

[jutfrank]

Your question is all wrong, Barman.

Look:

+ He is a man of marked ability.
- He is not a man of marked ability.

+ He is a great poet.
- He is not a great poet.

Why are you trying to use the word (not) mean as the opposite of marked and great? Don't do that.

What I assume you're trying to do here is understand the usage of no mean. Here: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/no-mean-something