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A declarative statement should not be deemed synonymous with an [[affirmative]] one. This is because although a declarative statement can state facts (given that the speaker is not consciously lying), it can also express something which is not true. The information he or she is providing, regardless of whether it be true or not in ''reality'', is in fact true or false to that speaker. Therefore, a declarative can be either in the affirmative or in the [[negation (linguistics)|negative]], and we can say that, ''Joanna is late'' and ''Joanna is not late'', both technically qualify as declarative sentences. ''Declarative'' refers to a sentence's function or purpose, while ''affirmative'' and ''negative'' deal with a sentence's veracity, or grammatical polarity, which is why the different terms can overlap simultaneously.
Though not as erroneous as the above misnomer, there is a clouding that can occur between the slight distinction of the affirmative, and the [[positive (linguistics)|positive]]. Although it semantically speaking comes natural that ''positive'' is the opposite of ''negative'', and therefore should be completely synonymous with ''affirmative'', grammatically speaking, once again they tend to be separate entities; depending on specificity. ''Positive'' in linguistic terms refers to the degree of the quality of an adjective or adverb (along with the [[Comparison (grammar)|comparative]] and [[superlative]]), while ''affirmative'' refers to the perceived validity of the ''entire'' sentence.
Thus, all three terms being separate entities, an adjective or adverb can be in the positive degree but expressed in the negative, so that the sentence, ''This hummer does not seem to be eco-friendly'', has all negative, positive, and declarative properties.
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