Understanding my sentence.

Question

What does it mean when I say:Was it ever in doubt that you wouldn't pass? Am I saying that I had doubt or that I didn't have doubt?

Meteorquake · Accepted Answer

It means there was no doubt - usually for any reasonable person, not merely the speaker.

ie, "It was obvious you would fail."

d

Clive · Answer

Here's the usual and very broad meaning/

Was it ever in doubt that you would pass? The speaker usually expects an answer meaning 'No, everyone always thought I would pass'.

Was it ever in doubt that you would not pass? The speaker usually expects an answer meaning 'No, everyone always thought I would not pass'
This negative form off the question is not commonly used, as it is a bit hard to understand.

Clive

Anonymous · Answer

Ii don't understand you contradicted your statement?

Anonymous · Answer

This seems to me, at least, to be a contradiction of the general purpose of a double negative. For example 'doubt'and 'wouldn't' are both negative words. In maths a double negative equals a positive. There the answer to the question is 'no there was no doubt.' I don't know what these other people are saying but they appear to me to be wrong.

Meteorquake · Answer

This isn't maths

Some languages use two negatives to make a stronger negative (eg Turkish)
Some use two negatives to make a positive (eg English).
Sometimes it's a bit of both.
We usually make two negatives a positive, but not always;
eg "He ain't no good" = "He's really no good" - two negatives making a stronger negative (this isn't formal English, but everyone will understand it as a positive)

However, questions become more complicated, because a negative question can imply a positive where the question questions the negativity.
Furthermore, the placing of a negative in the right place can also imply a neutral:
"He didn't deny doing it" = "He said nothing (about it)";
which is entirely different from "He denied not doing it" = "He said he did it".

So regarding "Was it ever in doubt that you wouldn't pass?"
"Was it ever in doubt" = "It wasn't in doubt" = "It was obvious"
"that you wouldn't pass" = "you would fail"
--> "It was obvious you would fail"

d

Understanding my sentence.

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