Negatives

In addition to the complexity that can occur naturally in language, the usage of negatives must be accounted for. Fig 5.5 shows the occurrence of a negation.

In general negations reverse the meaning of sentiment. Typical words of negation include no, not, never, none, and hardly.

In addition, certain words of sentiment are inherently negative, such as hate, dislike, disgust, and abhor.

So what is the implication when a negation is encountered with a positive sentiment word?

Here is an example:

“I don’t like ice cream…”

The word “don’t” is recognized as a negation and the word “like” is recognized as a statement of positive sentiment. When analyzing the sentence, the result is a negative statement.

However, when a negation is used in conjunction with an inherently negative word, the implication is that a positive statement has been made. Consider this sentence:

“I don’...