第一，辭彙和短語手段。cannot/couldn`t或can/could+否定詞(not,never,hardly,scarcely,etc) eg: I can`t wait to see him.(=I`m excited to see him.) 。否定詞no,not,little,nothing,none,nobody,etc) 與but,beyond,except,etc)連用eg: Nobody but Peter can do it well.(=Only Peter can do it well.)。
第二，使用一些特殊的句式，否定形式的虛擬語氣句eg: If he had not study hard, he could not go to college now.(Thanks to his hard work, he is in college now.)，否定的一般疑問句, eg: Don`t you think we should try again?(=I think we should try again.)或特殊疑問句.eg: There is a lift, but why not use the lift?(=You should use the lift since there is a lift.) 。過去時的no sooner…than否定結構的句子eg: No sooner had she got to Guangzhou, she called me.(=She called me the moment she reached Guangzhou.)。含有not+表瞬間動作的動詞+till/untill短語或從句.eg: He didn`t come back till 12:00(=He came back at 12:00.)。
與此同時，又有一些肯定的句式表達著否定的含義。我們也藉助一些辭彙和句型來達此目的。在名詞及短語中,常見的有absence不在，stranger不熟悉,eg: I am a stranger in this city.(=I am not familiar with this city.);動詞及短語有escape逃過，ignore忽略，miss錯過,eg: I missed the early bus.(I didn`t catch the early bus.);形容詞及短語有last不願意的，deaf to不聽，blind to看不見,eg:He is the last man I want to see.(=I don`t want to see him at all.)，介詞及短語except, instead of. eg: I`d like all kinds of food except noodle.(=I don"t like to noodle.);在複合句中包含before引出的狀語從句, He left before I got there(=when I got there he wasn`t there.)。