0
Usenet Posted 23 years ago
Usage

Double negatives - is it a rule?

Hi all,
"Thou shalt not never use no double negatives" was pumped into me at school. Is it really a rule? I am sure that there are literary constructions where it is impossible NOT to use a dreaded double negative - *I am not disgruntled.*
The same goes for "and + and" in the same sentence. *He wrote 'sleet and snow' without spaces between "sleet" and "and", and "and" and "snow".*

BR H

Harryvpo(at)hotmail(dot)com
+46 73 629 5002

Life was made to be taken seriously, otherwise
we would have a logical system of reproduction.
  

Top answer

[nq:1]Hi all, "Thou shalt not never use no double negatives" was pumped into me at school. Is it really a rule? 8% of all "rules" pumped into one at school were faulty.

  • [nq:1]Hi all, "Thou shalt not never use no double negatives" was pumped into me at school.
  • Is it really a rule?
  • 8% of all "rules" pumped into one at school were faulty.
  • Of course there is a proscription against double negatives, but only when you mean the single negative.
  • "There ain't no beer" - we know what it means, but it's not good formal English.
Free · every Monday

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

New words, one handy idiom, and a 2-minute quiz — delivered to your inbox to keep your streak alive.

18 Answers
0
[nq:1]Hi all, "Thou shalt not never use no double negatives" was pumped into me at school. Is it really a rule? I am sure that there are literary constructions where it is impossible NOT to use a dreaded double negative - *I am not disgruntled.*[/nq]
Statistics prove that 74.8% of all "rules" pumped into one at school were faulty.
Of course there is a proscription against double neg
0
[nq:1]"Thou shalt not never use no double negatives" was pumped into me at school. Is it really a rule? I am sure that there are literary constructions where it is impossible NOT to use a dreaded double negative - *I am not disgruntled.*[/nq]
You just used two, as of course you intended to.
Well, you answered your own question.
Of course it's not a rule.
To say the obvious,
0
[nq:1]Hi all, "Thou shalt not never use no double negatives" was pumped into me at school. Is it really a rule? I am sure that there are literary constructions where it is impossible NOT to use a dreaded double negative - *I am not disgruntled.*[/nq]
There is a figure of speech, common in English, that looks like a double negative but is not. Your "not disgruntled" is one such. Check "l
0
While it was 3/12/03 1:00 am throughout the UK, Robert Lieblich sprinkled little black dots on a white screen, and they fell thus:
[nq:1]There is a figure of speech, common in English, that looks like a double negative but is not. Your "not disgruntled" is one such. Check "litotes" in any decent dictionary.[/nq]
You mean people 'see' such prefixes as "dis" as negatives, but they're technic
0
[nq:1]While it was 3/12/03 1:00 am throughout the UK, Robert Lieblich sprinkled little black dots on a white screen, and they fell thus: [/nq]
[nq:2]There is a figure of speech, common in English, that ... disgruntled" is one such. Check "litotes" in any decent dictionary.[/nq]
[nq:1]You mean people 'see' such prefixes as "dis" as negatives, but they're technically not?[/nq]
It appears
0
[nq:1]"Thou shalt not never use no double negatives" was pumped into me at school. Is it really a rule? I am sure that there are literary constructions where it is impossible NOT to use a dreaded double negative - *I am not disgruntled.*[/nq]
You got me ... I'm still trying to parse "I Don't Know Nothing About Birthin' No Babies!"
0
[nq:2]"Thou shalt not never use no double negatives" was pumped ... use a dreaded double negative - *I am not disgruntled.*[/nq]
[nq:1]You got me ... I'm still trying to parse "I Don't Know Nothing About Birthin' No Babies!"[/nq]
You got one too many in there. Internet Movie Database has:

Prissy: Lawzy, we got to have a doctor! I don't know nothin' 'bout birthin' babies!

0
[nq:2]"Master of the universe and supreme ruler of all living beings \(and I[/nq]
[nq:2]You got me ... I'm still trying to parse "I Don't Know Nothing About Birthin' No Babies!"[/nq]
[nq:1]You got one too many in there. Internet Movie Database has: Prissy: Lawzy, we got to have a doctor! I don't know nothin' 'bout birthin' babies![/nq]
Note that the version with the extra "no" is no le
0
[nq:1]Linguist John McWhorter gives an example of multiple negation from another nonstandard dialect in his book The Power of Babel: ... .)" I'm wondering if McWhorter is correct in asserting that *all nonstandard English dialects use the double negative (negative concord).[/nq]
Note that in Black English, at least according to Geneva Smitherman's Talkin and Testifyin , there is the not
0
While it was 3/12/03 4:50 pm throughout the UK, Raymond S. Wise sprinkled little black dots on a white screen, and they fell thus:
[nq:1]The use of two or more negatives to express a negative meaning is called "negative concord" by linguists. We could avoid the possible confusion arising from the term "double negative" by sticking to the terms "litotes" and "negative concord."[/nq]
So "I

Related Questions