A sentence with a negative construction contains a word or phrase that describes what something is not. One example is the phrase not many, which could be replaced by the positive construction few.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

This is because a negative construction describes something in terms of what it is not, while a positive construction describes something in terms of what it is. "Not many" is a negative construction, as it describes the limited quantity of something in terms of what it is not (i.e. many), whereas "few" is a positive construction, as it directly describes the limited quantity of something in terms of what it is (i.e. not many).

A Sentence with a Negative Construction Contains a Word or Phrase