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Eipjoo Posted 13 years ago
Vocabulary
anything, nothing
They found Fang, the boarhound, sitting outside with a bandaged tail when they went to tell Hagrid, who opened a window to talk to them.
"I won't let you in," he puffed. "Norbert's at a tricky stage -- nothin' I can't handle."
When they told him about Charlie's letter, his eyes filled with tears, although that might have been because Norbert had just bitten him on the leg.
"Aargh! It's all right, he only got my boot -- jus' playin' -- he's only a baby, after all."
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I guess, ‘nothin I can handle’ is more likely to get the sense. But why does the sentence have ‘nothing’ in there before negative 'can't'?
"I won't let you in," he puffed. "Norbert's at a tricky stage -- nothin' I can't handle."
When they told him about Charlie's letter, his eyes filled with tears, although that might have been because Norbert had just bitten him on the leg.
"Aargh! It's all right, he only got my boot -- jus' playin' -- he's only a baby, after all."
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I guess, ‘nothin I can handle’ is more likely to get the sense. But why does the sentence have ‘nothing’ in there before negative 'can't'?
Top answer
The meaning is: It is nothing that I can not handle. The sentence is made up of two clauses. Anything would be incorrect.
- The meaning is: It is nothing that I can not handle.
- The sentence is made up of two clauses.
- Anything would be incorrect.
- I think you have sentences like this in mind: I ca n't do nothing about it.
- This use of nothing is wrong but common in informal speech.
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1 Answers
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The meaning is: It is nothing that I cannot handle. The sentence is made up of two clauses. Anything would be incorrect. I think you have sentences like this in mind: I can't do nothing about it. This use of nothing is wrong but common in informal speech. It should be:
I can do nothing about it.
I can't do anything
I can do nothing about it.
I can't do anything
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