jutfrank
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- Mar 5, 2014
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- English Teacher
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By the way, a little off-topic, is there any difference in meaning between "You need not to worry" and "You need to not worry" (from #9)?
(I understand that "You don't need to worry" is a completely different idea by analogy with "I didn't have to do it" and "I had not to do it")
Get clearly in mind the distinction between zero necessity and negative necessity. When the negator not comes after the verb need, it reverses the polarity of the necessity:
You need to worry. = [positive necessity]
You need to not worry. = [negative necessity]
In the latter sentence, not operates on the verb worry. Compare that to:
You don't need to worry. = [zero necessity]
Here, it operates on the auxiliary do, so it doesn't reverse the polarity, it nullifies it.
Have I understood your question?
Another related and interesting point here concerns the chunk needn't as used as an auxiliary verb to express zero necessity. This is best shown in the context of past necessity. Look at this:
a) I needn't have woken up early. = It was not necessary for me to wake up early.
Now compare this to a similar sentence using didn't need, which also expresses zero necessity but has what we call a difference in implicature (a kind of meaning):
b) I didn't need to wake up early. = It was not necessary for me to wake up early.
On the surface, the meaning is the same (semantics). However, the implication (pragmatics) is quite different, being thus:
a) I needn't have woken up early. = I did wake up early, despite it not being necessary.
b) I didn't need to wake up early. = I did not wake up early because it was not necessary.
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