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I have learned the position of 'not when I use to-infinitive is before the to-infinitive like:

I didn't go home not to meet my cousin.

but, sometimes I have seen 'not' is behind the to-infinitive like.

While patience is one of the most important parts of finishing a task, we sometimes cannot bring ourselves to not just expect quick results.

I am wondering if the expression,'to not just expect~', is right or wrong.

Please help me.

Barmar
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Eli Stone
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  • You've the answer here. Split infinitive https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Split_infinitive – mahmud k pukayoor Jul 06 '18 at 11:14
  • No need to split hairs over split infinitives: http://learnersdictionary.com/qa/Split-Infinitives – Kris Jul 06 '18 at 12:51
  • You can put "not" before the infinitive, but native speakers tend to split the infinitive by putting "not" between "to" and the main verb. There was a movement among English grammarians in the 19th century to make English more like Latin. Since Latin infinitives are only one word, they cannot be split, so to make English more like Latin meant that English's two-word infinitive form should not be split. That movement to make English more like Latin was abandoned in the late 19th century, but its vestiges remained in English grammar books until the mid-20th century, so we... – Billy Jul 06 '18 at 13:21
  • ...sometimes still hear tell of such standards from people who learned their grammar back then or from people who learned their grammar from people who learned their grammar back then. Nowadays, though, there is no actual standard in English grammar that prohibits or even urges against splitting infinitives. Rather, when the result of not splitting the infinitive is stilted, not splitting the infinitive is urged against, though not grammatically incorrect. – Billy Jul 06 '18 at 13:25
  • The first sentence is poor no matter where you put not. It would be more idiomatic to say "I didn't go home so I wouldn't meet my cousin." – Barmar Jul 06 '18 at 19:16

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