Is this a double negative sentence?

Question

No military leader would say that it is not difficult.

Usenet · Accepted Answer

[nq:1]No military leader would say that it is not difficult.[/nq]
Yea, so? It isn't a form like "I ain' got no", if that is what you are going for.

Opening her own letter Dorothea saw that it was a lively continuation of his remonstrance with her fanatical sympathy and her want of sturdy neutral delight in things as they were?an outpouring of his young vivacity which it was impossible to read just now. -, "Middlemarch"

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]No military leader would say that it is not difficult.[/nq]
[nq:1]Yea, so? It isn't a form like "I ain' got no", if that is what you are going for.[/nq]
IOW, it's not a "double negative" as that term is generally understood. Arguably, "not difficult" is a litotes, but it's not a double negative, nor is the sentence as a whole.
That doesn't mean the sentence can't be improved. "No military leader would call it easy" conveys the same thought more succinctly.

Bob Lieblich
Lord Litotes

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]Yea, so? It isn't a form like "I ain' got no", if that is what you are going for.[/nq]
[nq:1]IOW, it's not a "double negative" as that term is generally understood. Arguably, "not difficult" is a litotes, but it's ... doesn't mean the sentence can't be improved. "No military leader would call it easy" conveys the same thought more succinctly.[/nq]
I agree with this not unsound advice.

Cheers, Harvey
Ottawa/Toronto/Edmonton for 30 years;
Southern England for the past 22 years.
(for e-mail, change harvey.news to harvey.van)

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]On 21 Dec 2004, Robert Lieblich wrote[/nq]
[nq:2]IOW, it's not a "double negative" as that term is ... would call it easy" conveys the same thought more succinctly.[/nq]
[nq:1]I agree with this not unsound advice.[/nq]
That's not unkind of you, Harvey. Please accept this lack of ingratitude.

Bob Lieblich
Not continuing

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]No military leader would say that it is not difficult.[/nq]
[nq:1]Yea, so? It isn't a form like "I ain' got no", if that is what you are going for.[/nq]
The terms "double negative" and "double negation" have indeed been used for both standard and nonstandard usages. As linguist Geoff Pullum said in an interview which can be read at
http://abc.net.au/rn/arts/ling/stories/lf981010.htm
"One of the things I've decided as I've worked ten hours a day for the past six weeks on the chapter about negation for The Cambridge Grammar of English is that nobody knows what the term 'double negation' is supposed to refer to. I'm going to abandon the term. I have actually found it in use for ten different grammatical phenomena."
Besides the possible confusion, Pullum sees another problem with using the term "double negative" to describe the grammar of a sentence such as "You ain't seen nothin' yet":
"There is in fact only one negation in 'I didn't see nuffink', as used by Cockneys or working-class Australians or black Americans or anyone else who uses this device. It's the negative of 'I saw somefink', "
For this type of negation, linguists use the term "negative concord," and that is the term which Pullum and co-author Rodney Huddleston decided to use in the Cambridge Grammar.
See also the section on "double negative" in The American Heritage Book of English Usage at
http://www.bartleby.com/64/C001/023.html

Raymond S. Wise
Minneapolis, Minnesota USA
E-mail: mplsray @ yahoo . com

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]No military leader would say that it is not difficult.[/nq]
No it isn't

John Dean
Oxford

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]On 21 Dec 2004, Robert Lieblich wrote I agree with this not unsound advice.[/nq]
[nq:1]That's not unkind of you, Harvey. Please accept this lack of ingratitude.[/nq]
I'm happy not to refuse it. (We had a prime minister who was not unknown for not infrequently using this construction...)

Cheers, Harvey
Ottawa/Toronto/Edmonton for 30 years;
Southern England for the past 22 years.
(for e-mail, change harvey.news to harvey.van)

Usenet · Answer

Ok I have been having a debate with a friend. He is absolutely positive that the sentence, "No military leader would say that it is not difficult." is a double negative. I am the one that claims it is not a double negative. He claims the meaning of the sentence is:
So there for the sentence "No military leader would say that it is not difficult." Would there for mean EVERY military leader would say that it's EASY
Some pertinent quotes from him are:
1.) I have even given you a definition of what a "double negative" is. Thisnot rocket science.
"A double negative is the nonstandard usage of two negatives used in the same sentence so that they cancel each other and create a positive".

"The following list contains words that are regarded as negative. If you use them in your sentences once, your statements will be negative". NO NOT NOBODY NO ONE NONE HARDLY NOTHING SCARCELY NOWHERE BARELY NEITHER
"Note: the usage of double negatives is not considered proper or standard in English."
e.g.. The pilot could not find nowhere to land.
All of this is quoted from Literacy Education Online. http://leo.stcloudstate.edu/grammar/doubneg.html
2.) With all due respect to the users at alt.English.usage they are wrong onthis. It's not me they should disagree with, it's a University Writing Center that says they are wrong. I read your e-mail, they seem to be well read people, but doesn't change the facts.
3.) As far as this going any further, don't bother, because frankly I havegiven you EVIDENCE that you won't accept. There is an absolute truth out there, but you won't accept it since it comes from me. Unlike you I have directed my questions to Universities, not joe public on a news group.
So I am confused ... everyone here has said that it isn't a double negative. But he has written a letter to the University Writing Center ( http://www.ualr.edu/~owl/ ) and claims they say this sentence is double negative. This is the response he received from them:

This is Josh from the University Writing Center, and fortunately you are correct.
The more appropriate way to state that sentence is to say the following: "No military leader would say that it is easy"
"Any military leader would say that it is not hard"

Thanks for the question, and if you have any more, fee free to contact us.

Sincerely,
Josh, UWC Intern, Archivist
Can someone here who has credentials in English (as he doesn't accept a responses from, " joe public on a news group") settle this question definitively.
Thanks in advance.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Ok I have been having a debate with a friend. He is absolutely positive that the sentence, "No military leader ... leader would say that it is not difficult." Would there for mean EVERY military leader would say that it's EASY[/nq]
Huh? "Not difficult" is synonymous with "easy". Thus the original sentence is equivalent to:
No military leader would say that it is easy.
That's the opposite of what he claims. And in fact it's one of the rewrites suggested by his "authorities" at the University Writing Center said. So he doesn't even agree with his own cited authorities.
[nq:1]Some pertinent quotes from him are: 1.) I have even given you a definition of what a "double negative" is. ... nonstandard usage of two negatives used in the same sentence so that they cancel each other and create a positive".[/nq]
However in the original sentence the two negatives are not combining to create a positive. So, by this definition, it is not a double negative.
[nq:1]All of this is quoted from Literacy Education Online. http://leo.stcloudstate.edu/grammar/doubneg.html[/nq]
I'm not sure I'd take that page as authoritative since its authors seem to have trouble distinguishing between sentences that contain two negatives that combine to produce a positive and sentences that contain two independent negative constructions. At least it seems that way if we assume that all the sentences in the "Exercise" section are supposed to be incorrect double negatives by their own definition. For instance they give sentences such as:
The pilot could not find nowhere to land.
but also:
The researcher decided not to run the test again because the results from previous tests were hardly reliable.
The first sentence, parsed literally, means something like, "the pilot was unable to avoid finding place to land", which is presumably the opposite of the intended meaning and thus a "double negative". On the other hand the second sentence seems to me to mean exactly what it says because the previous test results were unreliable (a negative construction), the researcher decided not to run (another negative construction) the test again. The use of "hardly reliable" instead of "unreliable" in the original is a bit awkward but they are both negative constructions.
Note that to fix the first sentence you delete the "not"; it's superflous and inverts the intended meaning of the sentence. But to "fix" the second sentence you can only recast one of the negative constructions into a synonymous positive construction:

The researcher decided to skip running the test again because the results from previous tests were hardly reliable.
or:
The researcher decided not to run the test again because the results from previous tests were all over the place.
[nq:1]So I am confused ... everyone here has said that it isn't a double negative. But he has written a ... following: "No military leader would say that it is easy" "Any military leader would say that it is not hard"[/nq]
Josh doesn't seem to be using the same definition as the LEO folks. If your friend asked the UWC, "is this sentence a double negative" without supply his own definiton, Josh may well have used a looser definiton such as, "a sentence with two negative constructions, one of which could profitably be recast with a synonymous positive construction". Which would explain his response.
[nq:1]Can someone here who has credentials in English (as he doesn't accept a responses from, " joe public on a news group") settle this question definitively.[/nq]
Heh. I have a BA in English and am nearly done with a book that will be published next year by a reputable publisher. I say your friend is wrong according to the definition of "double negative" he supplied. But, somehow, I don't think that's going to convince him.

-Peter

Peter Seibel (Email Removed)

Lisp is the red pill. John Fraser, comp.lang.lisp

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Ok I have been having a debate with a friend. He is absolutely positive that the sentence, "No military leader would say that it is not difficult." is a double negative. I am the one that claims it is not a double negative.[/nq]
And you are right. And he is wrong. And that hasn't changed.
[nq:1]He claims the meaning of the sentence is: So there for the sentence "No military leader would say that it is not difficult." Would there for mean EVERY military leader would say that it's EASY[/nq]
Is that how this clown writes English? He means "therefore" and writes "there for." He is apparently ignorant of question marks. And he presumes to disagree with the likes of us on issues of grammar and usage. Talk about chutzpah!
[nq:1]Some pertinent quotes from him are:[/nq]
[nq:1]2.) With all due respect to the users at alt.English.usage[/nq]
Comma needed here
[nq:1]they are wrong on this. It's not me they should disagree with, it's[/nq]
Comma splice
[nq:1]a University Writing Center that says they are wrong. I read your e-mail, they seem to be well read people, ... you won't accept. There is an absolute truth out there, but you won't accept it since it comes from me.[/nq]
There are people who refuse to admit they are wrong no matter what anyone else says. This guy is one such. He doesn't even know what he means by "double negative." There is a big difference between the "nonstandard" double negative and the litotes. "I ain't got none" is the former. "Not difficult" is the latter.
[nq:1]Unlike you I have directed my questions to Universities,[/nq]
No capital on "universities"
[nq:1]not joe public on a news group.[/nq]
"Joe Public" and "newsgroup"
[nq:1]So I am confused ... everyone here has said that it isn't a double negative. But he has written a ... following: "No military leader would say that it is easy" "Any military leader would say that it is not hard"[/nq]
If we are to assume that Josh isn't a blockhead, then he obviously read the question too fast. His two sentences are in direct contradiction; each means the opposite of the other. If you're looking for vindication, ask Josh to look up "litotes" in one of his dictionaries. Feel free to call his attention to any or all of the content of this thread. Ask him if he'd like to hear from any of us; I for one have an earful for him if he cares to listen. But do not expect your friend to believe you even if you get Josh to admit he screwed up. Some ignorance is invincible.
[nq:1]Can someone here who has credentials in English (as he doesn't accept a responses from, " joe public on a news group") settle this question definitively.[/nq]
What does your pal consider "credentials"? I have a degree in English; I've written more than a hundred judicial opinions (and a couple of dozen crossword puzzles) for publication; and I've lectured on legal writing. If you really want to threaten him with credentials, tell him you're going to post the same inquiry to alt.usage.english and ask John Lawler to respond. John is a professor of linguistics at the University of Michigan, and he is recognized by almost all of us who participate in the two usage groups as the number one authority on those questions no one else seems to be able to resolve.
Come to think of it, what are Josh's credentials? What are your friend's?
Well, good luck. If you expect to get your friend to cry uncle, you're going to need it. Meanwhile, you have the consolation of being right, for what good it does you.

Bob Lieblich
I'm right, too

Is this a double negative sentence?

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions