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Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Double Negatives


A double negative is the improper placement of two negative words in the same sentence. Most of the time, the user of a double negative intends to make a negative statement, but two negatives form a positive statement. One negative and one positive form a negative statement.

Examples of negative words include no, not, nobody, hardly, barely and none.

The following sentences are examples of double negatives and what the sentences are actually implying. The negative words in the original sentence are indicated in bold.
  • I didn’t see nobody. = I saw somebody.
  • I barely ate none of it. = I ate a lot of it.
  • She didn’t need no one to help her. = She needed someone to help her.

The original sentences make positive statements because two negatives cancel each other out.

The following sentences are the incorrect sentences above rewritten correctly. The negative words are indicated in bold. The positive words are indicated in italics.

  • I didn’t see anybody.
  • I barely ate any of it.
  • She didn’t need anyone to help her.

The sentences make negative statements because of the placement of one negative and one positive.

1 comment:

raebrister said...

Double negatives really irk me. Kind of like nails running across a chalkboard!