negative force

Which would you choose here?

Don: I'm worried that you'll be late.
Dan: Trust me not to/to not do that.

Yes, that is perfectly grammatical in my dialect. I do not use it that much, for obvious reasons, but I will readily use it when it provides the exact meaning that I want in a given case.

"That" being "I can't afford to not do math" in my previous post.

>>Which would you choose here?

Don: I'm worried that you'll be late.
Dan: Trust me not to/to not do that.<<

I would favor "Trust me to not do that" here myself.

>>Still, which would we prefer here?

To be or not to be? That is the question.
To be or to not be? That is the question.<<

I would probably use "To be or not to be? That is the question", but that is just because it is a well-known set phrase. Had I just created such out of whole cloth without ever having heard of the phrase, I would probably instead use "To be or to not be? That is the question."

So you're a bin "fan" of "to not", right, Travis? Seems it's here to stay.

Edit:

So you're a big "fan" of "to not", right, Travis? Seems it's here to stay.

Hmm, my preference would be for "I can't afford not to do math", or more generally, for "afford not to" rather than "afford to not".

And here, folks? Which would you use?

To not work would be my wish.
Not to work would be my wish.

I would favor "To not work would be my wish" myself, even though If I actually said such I would just say "My wish would be to not work."

In both cases, I think I would prefer "not to work", although I guess I could conceivably say "to not work". I think your dialect has a stronger preference than mine for "to not [verb]".

Increasing use of the "to not" construction seems pragmatically motivated. Do you agree?

How does this sound?

"I think he's faking illness just to not have to go to work today."

>>"I think he's faking illness just to not have to go to work today."<<

That sounds perfectly fine to me, I must say.

>>Increasing use of the "to not" construction seems pragmatically motivated. Do you agree?<<

I would not be surprised myself, as it makes just what is being negated less ambiguous and allows constructions like "I can't afford to not do math" possible in a way not really doable previously.