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"decide to not go" and "try to not make mistakes"

hirashin

Sempai
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8 Apr 2004
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Dear native English speakers
My dictionaries say neither (a) nor (b) is correct. What do you think?
(a) I decided to not go.
(b) I try to not make mistakes.

Thanks in advance.
Hirashin
 
you can flip "to not" to say "not to," and it would probably be considered... more correct... but most native speakers wouldn't bat an eye at this.
 
yeah, a grammarian would probably mark it as incorrect, and people who had it beaten into them as students might flinch, but no one would wonder what you meant. And you'll hear a lot of native speakers making this mistake.

It's like conbini keigo; at what point is it no longer considered "wrong?"
 
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