Can you use 〜なくて instead of 〜ないで in the following sentence without changing
the meaning?

> 病気になると、一切化学薬品や抗生物質を使わ **ないで** 、鍼や指圧や漢方薬で直します。風邪の時は何もしないで暖かくして、寝ているだけです。

In general, what's the difference between 〜ないで and 〜なくて?
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2012-06-20T12:45:16.917
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2021-09-09T09:58:25.780
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question
grammar て-form negation
ないで vs なくて: combining phrases with negative verbs
Peter Sells (1995) calls ないで a “verbal gerund” and なくて an “adjectival gerund”.
When you have participial constructions, it does not make a difference which
one you use, but Sells notices that only the verbal gerund can be selected by
an auxiliary verb:

> 食べないでおいた  
>  * 食べなくておいた (Sells 1995:287)

Similarly, when you want to use these forms adverbially as in your examples,
you have to use ないで. You cannot replace it with なくて. If you do so, they will
be interpreted as participial constructions.

> 何もしないで暖かくする (ambiguous)  
>  'not do any activity, and keep the body warm'  
>  'keep the body warm by not doing any activity'
>
> 何もしなくて暖かくする (unambiguous)  
>  'not do any activity, and keep the body warm'  
>  * 'keep the body warm by not doing any activity'

Other than that, I do not know of a difference.

* * *

Sells, Peter (1995) "Korean and Japanese Morphology from a Lexical
Perspective" _Linguistic Inquiry_ **26.2** MIT Press
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2012-06-20T14:37:58.373
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answer