Ah, double negatives. You’ve most likely been told not to use them with no further explanation. But what exactly are double negatives, and how do you avoid them?
Double negatives are two negative words used in one sentence. The rules of English grammar determine that two negative words in a sentence cancel each other out, changing the sentiment to a positive one. Therefore, one or both negatives should be deleted in order to concisely convey the intended message.
Double negatives can completely ruin the way readers understand your writing, so here are four tips to remember when dealing with negatives:
1. In English, negative forms are created by adding a negation to the verb.
Thus, there should only be one negative form per subject-predicate phrase.
I will go to the store. I will not go to the store.
We have started piano lessons. We have not started piano lessons.
2. Using two negatives results in a positive.
Here are some common examples of double negatives skewing the meaning of a sentence:
I didn't see nothing.
Here is the literal translation:
I did see something.
But most likely the intended meaning was:
I saw nothing.
Let’s try one more:
We never eat with nobody.
Literal translation:
We always eat with somebody.
Likely intended meaning:
We didn't eat with anybody.
3. Learning negation in English is often difficult because many languages regularly use double negatives.
For those learning English as a second language, it may be difficult to understand how and why double negatives are considered incorrect grammar. They even were common in English until after the 16th century! But somewhere along the way, we ditched that second negative and decided only one is necessary.
4. However, like everything in the English language, there is always an exception.
There are certain cases in which double negatives are considered grammatically correct. Let’s look at this example:
I am not unconvinced that he’s telling the truth.
The use of “not” with “unconvinced” makes the statement more subtle. It implies that that the author has reservations about the person telling the truth but is still convinced. There is a nuance in this type of double negation that makes it the exception to the rule.
Hopefully these tips have been helpful in learning what you need to do to delete double negatives!
