1) 只否定谓语动词，不否定谓语动词后的状语。

• The police didn't release his name because of his age.由于他的年龄，警察没有公布他的名字。
• He wasn't listening all the time.他一直都不在听。

2) 不否定谓语动词，只否定谓语动词后的状语。

• They had not gathered in this remote wooded area forty miles west of Moscow to relive the past.他们到莫斯科以西四十英里这处偏僻的森林地带来聚集，并不是要重温过去。
• This man's friends had not gotten to where they were by being careless. (Dan Brown, Deception Point, p.56)这个人的朋友们之所以能够有今天，不是靠漫不经心就能办到的。

3) 把谓语动词连同其后面的状语合在一起作为一个整体加以否定。

• Working in an open-source world is not without its hardships. There is no toll-free number to call when things don't work, as is the case with packaged software.在一个源头开放的世界里活动，总是免不了遇到种种麻烦。东西不灵了，就不能像买来原装的软件那样有免费电话号码可以查询。

这里有时候会出现歧义。

• He didn't go to New York to attend the meeting.可能是谓语动词 (went) 连同其后面的状语 (to attend the meeting)合在一起作为一个整体受到否定，意思就是“他没有去纽约，所以也就没有参加会议。”

但是也可以是只否定状语，不否定谓语（此时否定词 not 就是跳过谓语，“隔山打炮”，否定状语），意思就是“他去纽约并不是要参加会议。”