1)  He is lucky.
2)  He is not lucky.

'Not' modifies the verb. (Technically speaking, it modifies the tensed
verb in the sentence, that is, an auxiliary in most cases. Sentences
without an auxiliary must add one to carry the negative: He ate. He did
not eat.)
 
Notice that 'not' contracts with the verb--'isn't'--and if you form a
question, it moves with the verb to the front of the sentence: 'Isn't he
lucky'? Things can't move with a word unless they are part of the same
phrase as that word, i.e. either head or modifier. Consider pre-posing:

A. Lucky, he's not.
B. *Not lucky, he is. (questionable, at the least)

This suggests that 'not' is not a modifier of 'lucky'. 

You could not 'strand' a modifier of 'lucky' as you can in A. The
modifier has to move with it:

C. He is very lucky.
D. *Lucky, he is very.
E. Very lucky, he is.

Also, the 'not' of the base sentence controls negative marking in a tag
question, which has to be the opposite of the base. This is true of any
sentence, whether there is a verb complement or not, and regardless of
what kind of verb complement there is:

F. He is not lucky, is he?
G. He is lucky, isn't he?

H. He slept, didn't he?
I. He ate sushi, didn't he?
J. He didn't sleep, did he?
K. He didn't eat sushi, did he?

Even if we don't contract the 'not', it still shows up in the tag:

L. He is lucky, is he not?
M. He is not lucky, is he?

We negate adjectives by using derivational prefixes like 'un-lucky' or 'im-possible'.

 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Johanna Rubba   Associate Professor, Linguistics 
English Department, California Polytechnic State University
One Grand Avenue  • San Luis Obispo, CA 93407 
Tel. (805)-756-2184  •  Fax: (805)-756-6374 • Dept. Phone.  756-2596
• E-mail: [log in to unmask] •      Home page: http://www.cla.calpoly.edu/~jrubba
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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