Understanding のではない and のではないか in the passage I was reading through Soumatome N1 Dokkai practice book when I encountered the passage below. Understanding the passage itself was not really difficult: _**the uncle did the prank**_. But when it comes to answering the multiple choice question, I was stumped. Here is how I arrived at my answer: 1 > This can't be true. 3 > This translates to the uncle did it. 2 > I translated the partas "the uncle did it" > > THIS IS WHY I GOT IT WRONG What was going on my mind was that conveys roughly the same meaning asand so I applied this logic. Apparently, it's wrong. So, is it true that translates to "the uncle did not do it"? And if so, if I want to convey the fact that the uncle did it using the negative, just like , how should I write it? ![](

**exclusively** means "it is not the uncle that did it". The equivalent is ****. Yes, it comes from question "Isn't it —?" then becomes to mean "How could it not —". And in formal saying you _cannot_ drop the question particle .

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By the way, if written, the casual is certainly ambiguous even to Japanese, but their difference is clear in speech.

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The first one ( bears accent) is negative "did not", and the second "surely did" (=).