Abstract   

In an English sentence with negative structure, when it is isolated, there appears more than one interpretation or meaning，which contributes to the ambiguity in an English negative structure, one of the English ambiguous structures. The causes of this ambiguity are various. A new light is shed on how to correctly comprehend such ambiguous sentences by three aspects including scope of negation, transferred negation and negative transformation. With the knowledge of the structure and the phenomenon, one can get the actual meaning and avoid ambiguity and errors in both understanding and expression.

Keywords: negative structure； ambiguity； scope of negation；transferred negation；negative transformation.

摘要

在含有否定结构的英语句中，如果是一个孤立的句子，往往会令读者觉得含有多种理解或者多种意义。这就导致了英语否定结构中常出现歧义现象，这种否定结构即是英语歧义结构之一。造成这种歧义现象的原因不尽相同。本文从否定范围，否定转移和否定转换三个方面入手，试图为正确理解否定歧义句提供一种新的思路。了解这种结构和现象，就能知道这种结构的正确意义，从而避免歧义，避免理解和表达的错误。

关键词：否定结构，歧义，否定范围， 否定转移，否定转换