English Language & Usage Asked on March 24, 2021
Among the following sentences (assuming they are all grammatically correct, and hopefully seem natural to native speakers as well):
I do not think the overwhelming majority of the countries in the world would agree with your opinions.
I think not the overwhelming majority of the countries in the world would agree with your opinions.
I think the overwhelming majority of the countries in the world would not agree (or just say "would disagree") with your opinions.
First of all, I assumed that 2) and 3) are different: let’s say 80% is an overwhelming majority, then my understanding is that 2) claims that only a significantly smaller percentage of the countries agree, e.g., 60%, or 50%, or 40%; while 3) claims that 80% disagree, which means that at most 20% agree.
If my understanding above is correct, then which ones are equivalent? I feel that 1) is about the same as 2), but from the grammar I learned from school, 1) is supposed to be another (more correct/common?) form of 3). Any native speaker to tell?
The answer to a relevant question seems not satisfactory: "I think that … not … " and "I don't think that …"
[1] would be more common in English when disagreeing. Otherwise, you might use 'disagree' - The overwhelming majority of the countries in the world would disagree.
Answered by Mr Guest on March 24, 2021
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