Disclaim: Deny

CONTRACTION

An utterance which invokes a contrary position but which at the same time rejects it directly. The contrary position is hence given very little dialogic space.

In other words, deny move includes acknowledgement to an alternative position so as to reject it. Typically the meaning is realized using negations.

Prototypical examples

  • Linguistics is not easy.
  • But everything that was written in your advertisement wasn’t true at all.
  • these were definitely not the norm
  • Natural gas burns with twice the heat of coal gas, is not poisonous and has no odor.
  • We are of course not dealing with one monolithic hegemonic English voice
  • You don’t need to give up potatoes to lose weight.
  • The author did not provide any information about the method.
  • There is nothing wrong with your proposal.
  • There is no correct answer to this question.

DENY-specific span guideline

Typically, DENY is realized by negative particles in English such as not, never, and no.

Most frequently, this is attached to verb phrases, but it can also be attached to nominal or adverbial phrases.

be-verbs constructions

When DENY occurs in be-verb constuction, the span is mostly on (auxiliary verb) + be-verb + (adverbial) + negative particle.

  • Linguistics is not easy.
  • But everything that was written in your advertisement wasn’t true at all.
  • these were definitely not the norm.
  • He liked to cut down wood for heating and selling purposes and, reputedly, if he would have had a chainsaw, there would not have been a tree left standing on the property (Catherine Reed 2008).

lexical verbs

When DENY occures in other verb phrases, the span is mostly on auxiliary verb (excluding modals) + negative particle + lexical verbs.

  • The author did not provide any information about the method.
  • Gestational age seems to be pretty much constant in terms of IQ, suggesting this variable does not have any effect.
  • The Space Shuttle has not met any of the original requirements including reliability, maintainability, cost, or safety.
  • This may not require any additional information.
  • Secondly, a university graduate cannot fit all the requirements that the employers need.

Nominal Constructions

When DENY occurs within the nominal construction, the span is from negative particle to the head noun.

  • You know, smoking just make people feel boring but no benefits.
  • In google, there’s no special rights for anyone in the company.
  • Although no such statistics exist for the United States , we can assume a percentage of this population is also unsure how HIV is transmitted.

Verbs following not may be in the span. See negation guidelines

Tagging not only as COUNTER

We will treat following expressions as COUNTER not DENY:

  • not only
  • not just The reason for this decision is that we found that not only does not always paired with but also but still works just like a COUNTER move. This indicates that not only is a multiword expression that has potential to COUNTER the discourse by itself.

Tagging negative prefixes such as un-, non-

When you encounter negative prefixes, consider whether that negative prefix negates the predicates (propositions). Some example of you could tag them as DENY include:

  • As a result , it is unable to come up with enough gas to meet internal demand and its export obligations.
  • It is impossible to see the ultimate goals of either side being realized .

But the same word may not take DENY move because they do NOT disclaim a view point.

  • The net result appears to be that these incomplete theories often portray minority children and their families as educationally inferior and unable to benefit from traditional mental health practices .

In this example, unable is used to describe a percieved property of minority families by what the writer terms as incomplete theory. It does NOT DENY the proposition itself.

  • The reporting for JE laboratory testing was vague and incomplete . This is also another example of non-DENY negative prefix.

  • But it would have been an impossible task without the assistance and advice of the Exhibition Webmaster.

Here, the word “impossible” describes a property of a task. The writer then ENTERTAINs this property by “would have been”, making the overall engagement move as ENTERTAIN, not DENY.

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