Wednesday, July 2, 2014
Rules Project: Are double negatives never ok?
Today's grammar point is one that I feel is prescriptively wrong but one that I think works. The celebrity blog X17 reports that "Portia De Rossi Secretly Went to Rehab in May." The blog's author expresses surprise that this has not been discovered sooner by saying, "We can't
believe nobody found out until now!" To me, this seems like a double negative that works just fine.
According to the Grammarly Handbook, a double negative happens when two negatives happen in the same clause. "In Standard English, however, double negatives in a single clause cancel each other out and transform the meaning into a positive."
Grammarly Handbook: http://www.grammarly.com/handbook/sentences/negatives/2/double-negatives/
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Good point. This is a double negative construction that hasn't been stigmatized. For rules project entries, make sure you cite the source of your rule and state what the rule is.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting! I've reread the sentence several times, and it seems perfectly fine to me. I'm curious -- how could you write the sentence in question without using a double negative?
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ReplyDeleteThanks for the reminder, Susan. I added a citation for the rule and will add to the other ones as is appropriate.