Verified answer

Hi,

The first sentence is fine in the likely context that the ants have already been referred to, and you are referring to a sub-set of ants. Often this might not be a stand alone sentence but be better used as an extension of a previous sentence. For example:

"The colony needs to consume one thousand calories a day to maintain itself, however, not all the ants go out for food"

In any case "not all the ants go out for food" means that some ants remain behind.

In your second sentence, which does not make grammatical sense, you are effectively saying "All of the ants remain behind, as none are going out for food". If you are meaning to say none of the ants are going to get food then it is more appropriate to say "None of the ants go out for food"

So, in summary, the sentences means different things...and on top of that the 2nd sentence does not follow the proper use of English grammar.

I hope I've explained that OK? If not please ask for clarification and I will try and be a bit clearer.

Kind regards.

No, these sentences have two completely different meanings.

The first implies that although most of the ants do not go out for food, many of them still do.

From what I can see and as I understand it, when "not" is used in this way (i.e. at the start of the sentence) the sentence can take a "matter of fact" meaning.

For example...

>Not only is it cloudy, but it's raining as well!

>Not only is it he who dislikes ants, but she also.

I hope this has helped :)