| Summary: | Is the ne explétif on the way to disappearing? To find an answer we have searched in the French literature from about 800 in A.D., the Chant of Roland, to present times. The subject of this essay is the ne expletif, its frequency and development in relation to the conjunctions avant que, à moins que, sans que and their gradual equivalents. Our inquiries prove that this phenomenon exists since the era of our occidental literature, contrasting the ideas of some grammarians (Plattner and Togeby). In our essay we have not only described the aspects of the above mentioned conjunctions, but have also found three another exemples of à moins que in the Tales of La Fontaine and not only one “ Un lièvre en son gîte songeait … “ according to Togeby (1965:789). The editions of Grevisse from 1949 and 1955 but not the followings only refer to this tale as an exemple of à moins que. We have, among other things, criticized Damourette et Pichon (1911:5:532-533) for their selection of examples regarding avant que … ne. We have given some possible answers to our opening question and some future visions for the ne expletif.
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