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Buried Negatives
Sentences that look positive on the surface, with the negative dug out from underneath.
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Nothing on the surface says no. Every one of these means it.
Spot negation buried inside a word rather than carried by not — the mechanism behind most False and Not Given errors.
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Some sentences are negative without containing a single negative word. Missing one flips your answer.
The results were far from conclusive.
There is no not. There is no never. The most prominent word in the phrase is far, which suggests distance and size.
The sentence means: the results were not conclusive at all.
That is a buried negative — and it is the mechanism behind most False and Not Given errors in Academic Reading. Candidates find the right sentence, read it as positive, and answer backwards.
Sentences that look positive on the surface, with the negative dug out from underneath.
Nothing on the surface says no. Every one of these means it.
Five passage-and-claim pairs where a buried negative decides the answer.
In every case the topic matches perfectly. The buried negative is what decides the answer — and in every case, reading only the prominent word produces the wrong one.
Passage: The evidence is far from complete. Claim: The evidence is comprehensive. True, False or Not Given?
Three sentences. Say what each actually means, then name what makes it negative.
One
The solution was by no means simple.
Actual meaning:
What decides it:
Two
The species is all but extinct.
Actual meaning:
What decides it:
Three
Higher spending does not necessarily improve results.
Actual meaning:
What decides it: