Negatives
In grammar, a negative word expresses the absence of something. If I say, "I have no flour for the cookie dough," I am telling my reader about the absence of flour in my pantry. This is called a negative statement.
In grammar, as in math, two negatives make a positive. If I say, "I hardly have no flour for the cookie dough," I've used two negatives, hardly and no, to explain the condition of flour in my pantry. This is called a double negative. My sentence becomes a positive statement, indicating to my reader that I do indeed have flour in my pantry.
In English grammar, two negative words should never be used in the same sentence to refer to same thing.
Negative words include:
no
none
nobody
not
nothing
nowhere
no one
hardly
barely
scarcely
neither
. . . and in Georgia, nairn, as in the standard double negative, I ain't got nairn, which southerners innately understand to mean, I don't have any.
What double negatives are commonly accepted in your local vernacular?
Tomorrow: Objects
This post is brought to you by the April A to Z Blog Challenge. Check back all through April for daily discussions of writing conventions.
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14 comments:
Hey Lucy,
Great post. I write novels whenever i get the chance so it's always good to keep grammar and thing fresh in my mind.
Good luck with the rest of the challenge. You're doing great so far :)
As a writer grammar is something I'm always studying. I appreciate the list of negative words. Thanks for sharing.
I look forward to tomorrow's post!
Michelle :)
www.michelle-pickett.com/blog
From A to Z Challenge
Thank you Davide and Michelle.
like the negatives, from one writer to another. And especially like and agree with your comment on my neglectful post -- yes, ignoring your children is healthy. Amazing how many helicopter parents forget that. I should rewrite that post to make clear I am not one of them!
Thanks for stopping in and leaving a comment and I had never thought of it in you perspective but....think you are right:)
Nice post. I love that you're writing about grammar. Developmental English, which dealt primarily with grammar, was my favorite class to teach when I was working outside the home.
Grammar is becoming a lost art. Hence, I'm thankful for a good reminder!
Thanks for the visit!
Double negatives drive me nuts. "I don't got nothin'." is one I hear a lot.
Thanks for stopping by my blog.
welcome to me
yummy stuff
Good list of negatives. Must admit one of my bugbears is when a negative is omitted as in 'I could care less' which is used instead of 'I couldn't care less' even though it means exactly the opposite.
Oh God, yes. I cringe when someone says "I could care less".
One of my bugaboos isn't a double negative, but when people say, or write, 'could of' when they mean could've or in reality could have. Drives me crazy, particularly when I see it written. Double negatives seem to be very much a part of speech today though. Glad you are reminding people, but I am not sure the people who need reminding are reading our blogs.
I've never heard of nairn. We're just plain Midwesterners around here. And within my small group of friends, a double negative would immediately be pounced upon by the grammar police!
I haven't heard of nairn either!
Nairn of y'all has ever heard of nairn? (It's a singular pronoun, too, btw.)
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