Will the opposite of a number always, sometimes, or never be greater than the number itself

What do you mean by opposite? If you mean reciprocal, then the negative numbers will always be bigger (-2 : -1/2) and the positive numbers will get smaller (2 : 1/2). One will not be affected and will always be one, because the reciprocal of 1/1 is 1/1. If you are talking about opposites as in positive and negative opposites, then the opposite of a positive number is smaller than the original number (2 : -2) and the opposite of a negative number is larger than the original (-2 : 2). Zero is unaffected here because zero cannot be positive nor negative. Hope this helps, and sorry if this is confusing.