Double Negatives

7/23/2018

Weak positive. “He wasn’t without redeeming qualities.” Clear and accepted.
Strong negative. “I don’t want no trouble.” Used by Chaucer and Shakespeare but now informal.
Ambiguous. “I don’t want to do nothing all day.” “When I see a child suffer, I can’t do nothing.” Like those optical illusions you see first one way, then the other.

The trouble with double negatives in standard English has nothing to do with mathematical logic. They’re standard in many languages, like the French ne . . . pas or ne . . . rien, as well as several English dialects. Do double negatives fall under an arbitrary, groundless grammatical prohibition like split infinitives (“to boldly go”) or prepositions at the end of sentences? Not necessarily. It depends how they hold up against the only valid tests: usage and clarity.

8 Comments

Dennis Doren

7/23/2018 09:47:22 am

The whole issue of double negatives don't mean nothing to me. It's not that there is much ado about nothing. The real point is that a double negative can be useful when we can't say something no way else quite as well.

Sarah link

7/23/2018 10:53:47 am

Dennis, I couldn't fail to disagree with you less!

Lisa Imhoff

7/23/2018 10:08:31 am

The problem is probably worse now that we live in a more diverse "community" and converse with lots of different cultures. Or shall I say that we notice it more when people talk differently than we talk.

Sarah link

7/23/2018 10:59:58 am

Lisa, both your phrasings make a lot of sense. Add to that (or implicit within it) is the class element. Dialects other than Standard English are generally treated as "wrong" and signs of lack of education, i.e. "less than" middle class.

Rebecca link

7/24/2018 09:56:09 pm

I never wouldn't read your post, and couldn't fail to like it!

Sarah link

7/25/2018 09:08:40 am

Rebecca, thanks. My response wouldn't be complete without noting how your unmistakable "I never wouldn't" has quite different connotations from the ambiguous "I wouldn't never."

Walter Hassenpflug

7/28/2018 03:25:11 pm

Double negatives are very much accepted in many parts of the mountains of West-by-God Virginia. It don't make no difference what you done did. Dialects or just plain substandard grammar, the listener generally will have little if any problem understanding.

I believe all who are responding to this blog would never use double negatives for any writing requiring APA format.

I'm going to town with you tomorrow, ain't I?
I'm going to town with you tomorrow, am I not?
I'm going to town with your tomorrow, aren't I?

What if one removes the negative in aren't I ? Can one then say I are?

One's level of formal education will generally determine language usage. All the bloggers know that.

"It got so cold last night I had to light a far. I then crawled under the kivver and put my head on my piller. Next morn'n I looked out the winder and seen my truck had a flat tar!

It became so cold last night that I had to light a fire. Then I crawled under the covers and laid my head on the pillow. The next morning I looked out the window and noticed my truck had a flat tire.

Double negatives were not used with the above local rural hillbilly dialect in WVa. But those in that neck of the woods are comfortable because communication took place.

Sarah, good blog as usual.

I liked the blog no matter no how it was introduced.

Sarah link

7/29/2018 08:11:06 am

Walter, great analysis. Having grown up in those same West-by-God Virginia hills, I have no trouble understanding your examples of dialect. The distinction between "good" and "bad" grammar (prescriptive grammar) goes back to the late 1500s. Schools taught Latin grammar, and proud Englishmen wanted to prove English was just as rich in rules.

It's sort of an odd notion that some ways of speaking (by a native-born adult speaker, not someone just learning the language) are better than others. Hypothesis: As the boundaries between social classes became more fluid (usage always varied by region and social class), grammar became a way to "better" oneself.

The correlation between level of education and language usage may not just be that schools teach grammar or even that students have to read a lot. It may also be that higher education draws students from, or places them in the midst of, people of a social class whose lifelong everyday usage is what we call Standard American English.

Double Negatives

Leave a Reply.

Author

Archives

get updates

Double Negatives

Leave a Reply.

Author

Archives

​get updates

get updates