not to vs to not

Both "not to" and "to not" are correct constructions in English, but they are used in different contexts. "Not to" is commonly used before an infinitive verb to express a negative purpose or intention, while "to not" is used when the negation applies directly to the verb. The choice between them depends on the emphasis you want to give to the negation.

Last updated: March 19, 2024 • 1095 views

not to

This phrase is correct and commonly used in English. It is used before an infinitive verb to express a negative purpose or intention.

Use "not to" before an infinitive verb to indicate a negative purpose or intention. For example, "I told him not to call me late at night."

Examples:

She decided not to go to the party.
He asked her not to forget to bring the documents.
They promised not to reveal the secret.
I prefer not to eat spicy food.
It's important not to miss the deadline.

Show examples from the web [+]

It was guaranteed not to shrink.
Nations with no seeding chose not to participate in Olympic qualifying.
In this version Michael McDonald tells Máire not to give up.
None can pretend not to need others.
Ellie tearfully begs Riley not to leave.
The Rapporteur therefore chose not to amend the proposed methodology.
We cannot allow universities not to recognise qualifications.
Those known not to contain pathogens.
What not to let your visitors marble.
Multitasking has been scientifically proven not to work.
The Thinker admonished His disciples not to fear Infinity.
He first decided not to teach contemporaneously with John.
But it is important not to erode responsibilities and not to put at risk effective implementation of Community programmes.
Such taxable persons are permitted not to submit tax return forms and not to pay the net amount of VAT, when their annual turnover in Austria is below 22000 euros.
4.5 Valextra has the right not to accept or not to confirm orders from users having pending disputes or in case stated under paragraph 5.1.
Gave him a direct order not to.
Exactly, but not to worry.
We agreed not to tell anyone.
Brub especially asked me not to.
Tell Miriam not to worry about restocking tonight.

Alternatives:

to avoid
to prevent
to refrain from
to abstain from
to steer clear of

to not

This phrase is correct and commonly used in English. It is used when the negation applies directly to the verb.

Use "to not" when you want to place the negation directly before the verb. For example, "She decided to not go to the party."

Examples:

I chose to not participate in the competition.
He wanted to not disturb her while she was working.
They planned to not reveal their strategy until the last moment.
She tried to not think about the problem.
It's better to not rush into making a decision.

Alternatives:

not to
to avoid
to prevent
to refrain from
to abstain from

What Our Customers Are Saying

Our customers love us! We have an average rating of 4.79 stars based on 283,125 votes.
Also check out our 2,100+ reviews on TrustPilot (4.9).

"Thank you!"
Sachi Nakama July 2024
"I have literally been through chat, PI, claude, bard and bing and I got conflicting answers! Thank you! Human intelligence reigns!"
Retha July 2024
"Faster than AI"
CYNTHIA December 2023
"This was very helpful and I personally think this site is the best."
Kaden October 2023
"It was extremely thorough and very helpful!"
imperialelisa October 2023
"7 years without any disappointment. Always 100% satisfied. You guys are the best in the world at what you do. Thank you so much :)"
Zubair Alam October 2023
"In a world of text messages and online communication, this is great to have as a live tool. Thank you."
Selena October 2023
"Without textranch I would be stuck!"
宏祐 October 2023
"Accuracy and fast response. Personal comments from editor. Thank you."
Clh September 2023
"I wasn't aware of this service, it's fascinating and more reliable than standard IA tools available on the internet"
Arturo September 2023
"The fact that you can get reliable fast feedback on your texts."
Vinicius Antonio August 2023
"you guys are better than grammarly i'm being honest here"
ordinary July 2023
"OMG! This is really good than any other text correction tools I've used so far. Highly recommend this."
Vehan July 2023
"Very fast and accurate. thank you."
mojtaba July 2023
"I love this app because it's help to writing skills all of students ♥️"
Tarisini July 2023
"This was exactly the mistake I was looking for, the wording dind´t sound right at first. Better than grammarly!"
Ente July 2023
"The immediate help that I received was reassuring and very satisfactory. Thanks."
priiiyanshuu July 2023
"this helps A LOT for my studies."
kathnunez02 June 2023
"Woow!! I would never have expected such precision! Thank you soooo much!!"
Berta June 2023
"Real Time Editor and not AI. Many Thanks."
Priya June 2023
"The very first thing excites me about Textranch is how much your editors care."
sepideh June 2023
"The fact that texts are checked by human editors rather than by AI, etc. I appreciate this!"
Анна June 2023
"Feel welcome, immediate response, high quality feedback"
martin.roy June 2023
"This is the best app that I have ever seen"
Burulai May 2023

not to vs to not

not to

to not

Related Comparisons

What Our Customers Are Saying