To not ... not to

Hi, I had similar doubts. This article helped to clarify them.

The Use of No and Not [http://leo.stcloudstate.edu/grammar/nonot.html]

Adagio said:

I can't come up with a sentence, but my question is which form is correct. For ex., or, not to wake up the child. Sure, the sentence could be phrased in many different ways but I'm using it to make my point. To not vs. Not to.

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The problem is the double negative, which doesn't work in English - she doesn't want to make any noise to not wake up the child

How about "she doesn't want to make any noise to wake up the child"

Adagio said:

Aha. The Double negative -- Why didn't I think of it before?
Adagio slaps herself.

I always tried to avoid this trap but somehow my mind got muddled when I typed my example in the post.
Here is the form I stumbled upon: She whispered not to wake her mother. I believe it is correct.

Thank you Tsu Dho Nimh

P.S.

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That still reads awkward. You can easily write "She whispered to avoid waking her mother" or something similar.

Adagio said:

Thank you bagels. Of course, you're right.

Problem is that I've seen this form of negation (not to, to not) in the novels/short stories I read. I even copied a couple of examples in a notebook dedicated to such things, but I forgot the notebook at work and my own examples are awkward.

I'll post a published example as soon as I have one.

Thank you all,
Adagio

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Yes, both forms are used sometimes. Usually there is a more elegant construction which I would choose, but in dialogue (or 1st person/close 3rd narration) that's not always appropriate.

She whispered not to wake her mother.

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As it stands, that sounds as though it is indirect speech. Someone actually whispered, 'Don't wake my mother.'

If you mean 'she whispered so that her mother wouldn't be woken', then I'd write that as 'She whispered so as not to wake her mother.' But I think it's the kind of construction that is very geographically/educationally variable. You'll need to know your character's voice well enough to know how they would say it.

If I were your editor, I would correct that to "she whispered so as not to wake her mother" unless you were, as girlyswot points out, in a close 3rd person for which the other construction would be idiomatic. And even then, I'd flag it because it's syntactically ambiguous.

Adagio said:

Here is the form I stumbled upon: She whispered not to wake her mother. I believe it is correct.

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This is still confusing ... was she the one who whispered, to avoid waking her mother?

Or was she whispering at someone else, telling them to not wake her mother?

Maybe it would be clear in context.