[Grammar] to not get/not to get something good

[kadioguy]

lose out
phrasal verb

to not get something good, valuable etc because someone else gets it instead

The deal will ensure that shareholders do not lose out financially.
[FONT=Tahoma, Calibri, Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif]He lost out to Roy Scheider for the lead role.[/FONT]
Workers who don't take up training may lose out on promotion.


https://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/lose-out
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If I write the following instead, what is the difference in meaning (or in grammar) between them?

not to get something good, valuable etc

 

[jutfrank]

Whether not (or other adverbs) is placed before a to-infinitive (not to get) or splits a to-infinitive (to not get) can have interesting and subtle differences of emphasis and can affect meaning.

The way that I think this works (many people disagree) is that if you place not before the verb, the effect is to negate the verb whereas if you place not inside the verb, the effect is to create a negative verb. So then there's a subtle distinction between negated and negative meaning.

In this case, my guess at why the infinitive is split is that it's a dictionary entry. Since the general idea of dictionaries is to give synonyms, it makes more sense to give a negative meaning than to make a negation.

 

[kadioguy]

The way that I think this works (many people disagree) is that if you place not before the verb, the effect is to negate the verb whereas if you place not inside the verb, the effect is to create a negative verb. So then there's a subtle distinction between negated and negative meaning.

So "to not get something good" means "cannot get something good" (negative), whereas "not to get something good" means "do/does not get something good" (negated). Am I right?

 

[jutfrank]

So "to not get something good" means "cannot get something good" (negative), whereas "not to get something good" means "do/does not get something good" (negated). Am I right?

No.

Don't worry about it. It's not easy to understand what I meant. Even for me!