"don't seem to" vs "seem not to"

People seem not to care much about their health. => Are these two sentences both correct, and do they mean the same? Thank you very much. Nessie ... "don'tseemto"vs"seemnotto" EnglishasaSecondLanguage EnglishVocabulary,GrammarandIdioms Nessie June25,2008,2:09pm #1 Hi, Pleasehavealookatthesesentences: Peopledon’tseemtocaremuchabouttheirhealth. Peopleseemnottocaremuchabouttheirhealth. =>Arethesetwosentencesbothcorrect,anddotheymeanthesame? Thankyouverymuch. Nessie. Barb_D June25,2008,5:17pm #2 Theyseemcompletelythesametome. IsuggestthatthefirstversionwouldbemorecommonintheUS. Nessie June26,2008,10:25am #3 Uhm…Iwonderabouttheusageofthe2ndoneinBrE,too,Barb.Ican’tbesureifit’scorrectbutsomehowIfeelit’snotverynaturaltonativespeakers’ears. Anyway,IreallywanttoknowideasofaBritish Bytheway,haveyoueverheard:“tonotdosomething”? i.e: 1/ Shetoldmetonotenterthehouse Shetoldmenottoenterthehouse 2/ Heprofessestonotbereadyforthat. Heprofessesnottobereadyforthat. (Iremembercomingacrossthisusageinoneofmylisteningmaterial,butIcan’trememberthecontext,soIwitethesesentencesmyself:D) Barb_D June26,2008,1:10pm #4 Therearealotofpeoplewhowilltellyounevertosplitaninfinitive–thatis,nottoputthewords“not”(or“never,”etc.)bewteen“to”andtheotherpartoftheverb.I’mnotoneofthem.Ithinkit’sokaytosaythingsliketoboldlygo,andtosometimessplit. Thereareotherpeoplewhowilltellyouthatsaying“Isaidnottoopenthedoor”hasadifferentmeaningthan“Isaidtonotopenthedoor.”Youwon’tfind100%agreementonthis. Nessie June27,2008,10:04am #5 Thanksalot,Barb Asfor“Isaidnottoopenthedoor”vs“Isaidtonotopenthedoor.”,Ifindtheseabitstrange.Dotheymeanthisindirectspeech:“Isaid:“Don’topenthedoor””? Ifso,then“Isaidtoopenthedoor”isalsocorrect?(directspeech:"Isaid:“Openthedoor!”),butthisusageisreallystrange.CanitbeusedinformalEnglish? Yankee June27,2008,11:25am #6 HiNessie Ineverydayspeech,I’dsayyou’refarmorelikelytohearpeopleusetheverb‘tell’ratherthan‘say’whenreportingasentence(command)suchas“Don’topenthedoor”.Inotherwords:“Itoldyou/him/her/themnottoopenthedoor”. . Nessie June28,2008,1:34pm #7 Yankee: HiNessie Ineverydayspeech,I’dsayyou’refarmorelikelytohearpeopleusetheverb‘tell’ratherthan‘say’whenreportingasentence(command)suchas“Don’topenthedoor”.Inotherwords:“Itoldyou/him/her/themnottoopenthedoor”. . Thanksalot,Amy Ialsothink“tell”ismoreright(Iamtaughtso:))HoweverIjustwanttoknowwhethertheuseof“say”isacceptableinformalEnglish. Manythanksinadvance. Nessie. Yankee June28,2008,10:13pm #8 . Yes . Haihao June28,2008,10:20pm #9 Does“Isaidnottoopenthedoor”conceiveacertainamountofannoyedfeeling? Nessie June30,2008,2:55pm #10 Ithinkitdoes Bytheway,“Isaidnottoopenthedoor”isright,butIstillfind“Isaidtoopenthedoor”abitstrange…Isitcorrect,too? (We’vebeentalkingaboutthenegativeformonly-IknowI’mfussybutpleasegivemeaconfirmation) Thankyouverymuch. Nessie xclose