"I don't know what I'd do without you"
"I'm not know what I'd do without you"
Are these sentences correct?
What are the rules to use "not" in a sentence?
To what is not pointing in the above sentences?
Answer
When you are negating with not, look at the finite verb in the clause, the one that carries person and tense.
If it is an auxiliary verb (the first verb in a verbal construction) or a form of be, you may simply add not:
He is here. ... The verb is a form of be. >>> He is not here.
He has arrived. ... The verb has is an auxiliary. >>> He has not arrived.
He must have arrived. ... The verb must is an auxiliary. >>> He must not have arrived.Otherwise, you require DO-support:
He came today. ... The verb came is not an auxiliary. >>> He did not come today.
He arrived today. ... The verb arrived is not an auxiliary. >>> He did not arrive today.
He has a car. ... Here has is not an auxiliary but a lexical verb meaning 'possesses'. >>> He does not have a car.
Until the twentieth century it was common to negate lexical HAVE without DO-support, but this is disappearing. Even earlier any verb might be negated without DO-support, but that died out by the nineteenth century.
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