Photo by Andre Hunter on Unsplash
Quando usamos verbos que exprimem opinião, como think, expect, believe, suppose, imagine, e de percepção (appear, seem, feel, look, sound as if), para introduzir ideias negativas, a negativa deve ser colocada no verbo introdutório (o que aparece primeiro).
Por exemplo, não é correto dizer:
I think you haven’t seen this
O mais apropriado é dizer:
I don’t think you have seen this.
Outros exemplos:
I believe she’s not at home
I don’t believe she’s at home
I think you are not right
I don’t think you are right.
I believe he won’t come
I don’t believe he will come.
It seems that they don’t know where to go
It doesn’t seem that they know where to go.
It appears that we won’t have a sunny day tomorrow.
It doesn’t appear that we’ll have a sunny day tomorrow.
Como tudo na língua inglesa, também existem exceções a esta regra. Esta regra não se aplica ao verbo hope:
I hope their marriage won’t happen.
