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In this sense, “to be” means to take action and actually live your life, not just trudge through it. “Not to be” means to sit back and passively “suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.”. It means to never take action because of fear of the unknown. This all comes to a head in the last section:
To be, or not to be: that is the question: Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer. The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep; No more; and by a sleep to say we end. The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks. That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation.
'My friend asks if it would not be better for you to come here.' Does the sentence mean. a) 'My friend thinks it would be better if you come here.' OR. b) 'My friend thinks it would be better if you not come here (and stay there).' And is the usage of "not" in the sentence correct or does it make it ambiguous?
A split infinitive i.e. to put not between to and a bare infinitive, though not common, isn't incorrect grammatically. We mostly put not in front of a to-infintive. So the phrase "not to offend people" is preferable to the phrase "to not offend people".
With the words "to be or not to be," he is asking whether it is better to live or not to live. Hamlet wonders if death is like going to sleep. If so, then death is not so bad—except that in ...
Definition. (What present have you bought me?) It better not be (another apron)! (oral): (What present have you bought me?) I will be unhappy if it is (another apron)! expression. " It better not be another pigeon! Still unsure of the best way to use 'It better not be'? Improve your English thanks to our online English lessons.
3. Some people think it's important to avoid "splitting infinitives." In these sentences, "to misbehave" is an infinitive verb and "splitting" it means inserting a word between the "to" and the "misbehave." In your example 2, "promise to not misbehave" is a split infinitive. I happen to think this is an entirely pointless rule.
