Many of the questions on the TOEFL ITP exam for Short Conversations involve negative expressions where the speakers are either disagreeing with each other, or they are providing negative information to stress or emphasize their position. The first speaker may ask for an opinion or make a suggestion, and the second speaker will answer using a negative expression. There are a few common ways that these may appear.
Negative Expressions
Negative Verbs
For example:
- do not = don't
- are not = aren't
- have not = haven't
- will not = won't
You will hear:
| woman | Bill told his professor that he got help from someone on his assignment. |
| man | He shouldn't really have done that. |
| man | I can't wait for the show tomorrow. |
| woman | I have to say that I am not as excited as you are. |
Negative Pronouns and Determiners
For example:
- neither
- no one
- none
- nothing
- nowhere
- nobody
- no
You will hear:
| man | I'm not going fishing tomorrow if it rains. |
| woman | Neither am I. |
| woman | That party tonight is going to be great. |
| man | Maybe, but none of my other friends are going, so I'm not so sure. |
Negative Prefixes
For example:
- anti- (against)
- dis- (not)
- il/ir- (not)
- in/im- (not)
- mis- (bad/wrong)
- non- (opposite)
You will hear:
| woman | Are you buying a ticket for the lottery next week? |
| man | No. I am really just a very unlucky person. |
| man | Why is the report not handed into our manager yet? |
| woman | Sorry. That is my mistake. I'll do it right away. |
Negative Adverbs of Frequency and Degree
For example:
- barely
- hardly
- nearly
- only
- rarely
- scarcely
- seldom
You will hear:
| man | Have you got your assignment done for Professor Parks yet? |
| woman | Done? I've barely even started it? |
| woman | Your brothers wedding sounds like it will be a lot of fun. |
| man | It could be, but they've only invited people I don't know. |
These words are also used to form inversions, where the subject and verb switch positions.
You will hear:
| woman | He seems to really like his new girlfriend a lot. |
| man | For sure. Never have I seen him try so hard to impress someone. (For sure. I have never seen him try so hard to impress someone.) |
| man | Can you help me answer just one more question for my assignment? |
| woman | OK. But rarely do I ever help people like this, so please appreciate it. (OK. But I rarely ever help people like this, so please appreciate it.) |
Exercise
Open the exercise to begin the activity. Follow the instructions in the document.