Avoiding double negative constructions: How and When to Use in English
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Avoiding double negative constructions
Double negation is grammatically incorrect: any negative proposition must only contain one negative.
Some pronouns or adverbs such as no, nothing (not anything), nobody (not anybody), never (not ever) are called negative terms. They alone express negation:
Some pronouns or adverbs such as no, nothing (not anything), nobody (not anybody), never (not ever) are called negative terms. They alone express negation:
He never comes over for dinner. He doesn't ever come over for dinner.
There is nothing to worry about. There is not anything to worry about.
Nobody will work tomorrow. No employees will work tomorrow.
When negation already exists in the sentence, the following are used:
any instead of no,
anything instead of nothing,
anybody instead of nobody,
ever instead of never, etc.
any instead of no,
anything instead of nothing,
anybody instead of nobody,
ever instead of never, etc.
He has no friends.
He doesn't have any friends.
He doesn't have any friends.
I see nothing from here.
I can't see anything from here.
I can't see anything from here.
She never calls me.
She doesn't ever call me.
She doesn't ever call me.
People never call me Mr. Cheeter...
Nobody ever calls me Mr. Cheeter...
(Nobody carries the negation)
Nobody ever calls me Mr. Cheeter...
(Nobody carries the negation)
Exercise 1
I don't want to see your ugly face again.
I don't ever want to see your ugly face again.
ever: 'Ever' is the best choice here. In a sentence which already carries negation, 'ever' is used as the affirmative equivalent of 'never' to express the idea of something which happens 'at no time' or 'on no occasion'
never: Using 'never' forms a double negative, which is grammatically incorrect.
always: 'Always' does not make sense in this construction. In English, 'always' is rarely used in negative constructions.
sometimes: 'Sometimes' does not make sense here. The construction 'I don't' is never followed by 'sometimes' to express frequency.
Exercise 2
Horatio has liked Kevin very much.
Horatio has never liked Kevin very much.
never: Because this sentence carries no negation, we must use the negative term 'never' to create a grammatically correct statement.
ever: Using 'ever' forms a grammatically incorrect sentence. In order to correctly express this thought in an affirmative construction, we must use a negative term.
Exercise 3
Icarus's mother advises him to leave home without a clean pair of underwear.
Icarus's mother advises him never to leave home without a clean pair of underwear.
never: Because this sentence carries no negation, we must use the negative term 'never' to create a grammatically correct statement.
ever: Using 'ever' forms a grammatically incorrect sentence. In an affirmative construction such as this one, we must use a negative term to correctly complete the sentence.
Exercise 4
Polly says that she hasn't told a lie, but we know better.
Polly says that she hasn't ever told a lie, but we know better.
ever: 'Ever' is the best choice here. Because this construction is negative ('hasn't' carries the negation), we must use the affirmative term 'ever' to complete the sentence correctly.
never: 'Hasn't' already carries the negation of this sentence. Using 'never' forms a double negative, which is grammatically incorrect.
always: 'Always' does not fit in this sentence. 'Hasn't' and 'always' cannot be used together to express frequency.
Exercise 5
Polly says Kevin doesn't know how to do right.
Polly says Kevin doesn't know how to do anything right.
anything: 'Anything' is the correct choice because 'doesn't' carries the negation of the sentence.
nothing: 'Nothing' is incorrect because 'doesn't' already carries the negation of the phrase. To say Kevin 'doesn't know how to do nothing right' forms a double negative, which is grammatically incorrect.
never: 'Never' does not make sense here.
ever: 'Ever' doesn't fit in this sentence.
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