Overview: Why Double Negatives?
Some of the most common examples of nonstandard English occur when negative words and statements are misused. Negatives as alternatives are contained in the English/grammar tests on both the SAT and the ACT to trap the unwary. The errors can be compounded because double negatives were once considered standard in English, and are standard in many languages such as Spanish and French.
Recognizing Negative Words
A number of words are already negative, such as no, not, none, nothing, never, nobody, or nowhere. Forms such as can’t, won’t, shouldn’t, wouldn’t, cannot and other n’t contractions used with helping verbs are also negative. The word but as a negative should not be used with another negative. “He had but one life to give” or “He had only one life to give” not “he hadn’t but one life to give.” Some words such as barely, scarcely, and hardly aren’t as obviously negative, but they shouldn’t be used with other negative words in the same clause. Therefore, “can’t hardly stand it” is improper usage.
One Negative Per Clause
One of the best ways to avoid using double negatives is to make sure to write sentences with only one negative word per clause. For example, a sentence like, “He couldn’t make nothing at that job” could be corrected to have only one negative word per clause by changing the couldn’t to could, as in “He could make nothing at that job,” or the nothing to anything, as in “He couldn’t make anything at that job.”
Avoiding Double Negatives
The best way to avoid problems with double negatives is to recognize the negative words that are already there in the clause and make sure there is only one of them. For example, in the sentence, “There are many theories about what happened on Amelia Earhart’s last flight, but no one has all the answers,” no one is already negative. It would be incorrect to say, “No one hasn’t all the answers” because of the no and the n’t. Similarly, “Amelia Earhart couldn’t hardly wait to get back in the air after she finished a flight” could be properly rewritten as “Amelia Earhart couldn’t wait to get back in the air after she finished a flight” or “Amelia Earhart could hardly wait to get back in the air after the finished a flight.”
Watch for Incorrect Alternatives
Some questions on standardized tests may give alternatives specifically to test for correct negative usage. A test item that contains a negative in the stem of a clause should not be complted with another negative. For example, if a test item contains the sentence “When she went to Europe, she never went ______ that was boring, ” it should be completed with the positive anywhere rather than the negatives nowhere and no place.
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