Support-verb constructions are combinations of a verb and a noun that act as the predicate, as ‘made the suggestion’ in I made the suggestion that she join. They are frequent, variable, and ambiguous across texts, as well as language-specific in their lexical and syntactic properties. The article examines patterns of negation with δίκην δίδωμι ‘to pay the price for one’s actions’, ὅπλα ἔχω ‘to be armed’, and συμμαχίαν ποιέομαι ‘to ally up’ in classical literary Attic. Syntactically and lexically, support-verb constructions can behave like a word or like a syntagm. A word does not have an internal syntax but only an external one; a syntagm has an internal syntax. Negation in support-verb constructions can be achieved either morpho-syntactically or lexically as long as the syntagm character has not faded. Morpho-syntactically, support-verb constructions can be negated by drawing on their external or their internal syntax. Lexical negation can be achieved by means of negative verbs of realisation indicating a zero-degree of multiplication. If available for a support-verb construction, lexical negation appears to add a nuance of intensity; morpho-syntactic negation appears primarily in contrastive contexts.

支持动词结构是充当谓语的动词和名词的组合，如I made the suggest that she join中的“提出建议” 。它们在文本中频繁出现、变化多端且含糊不清，并且其词汇和句法属性也具有特定于语言的特征。这篇文章考察了否定的模式δίκην δίδωμι“为自己的行为付出代价”，ὅπλα ἔχω“武装起来”，以及比较古典文学阁楼中的“结盟”。从句法和词汇上来说，支持动词结构可以表现得像一个单词或一个句法。一个词没有内部语法，只有外部语法；语法有一个内部语法。只要句法字符没有消失，支​​持动词结构中的否定就可以在形态句法上或词汇上实现。从形态句法上来说，支持动词结构可以通过利用其外部或内部语法来否定。词汇否定可以通过表示零乘法的实现否定动词来实现。如果可用于支持动词结构，词汇否定似乎会增加强度的细微差别；形态句法否定主要出现在对比语境中。