fandom_grammar . Answer: When is it okay to use double negatives?

Today’s question deals with double negatives. We’ll take a look at them and when, if ever, they’re okay to use with a little help from our friends in the Magnificent Seven.

First off, what is a double negative? It’s the use of two forms of negation in a single clause.

JD turned his head away from the foul-smelling liquid in the cup Nathan proffered. “I don’t want none of that!”

Double negatives are used informally most of the time, and are meant to convey a negative sense. Indeed, Chaucer and other early English authors used double negatives to emphasize a negative statement. In formal usage, however, they’re frowned upon, because the statement can logically be twisted around to create a positive meaning. In JD’s exclamation above, even though he thinks he’s telling Nathan he doesn’t want any of Nathan’s medicine, the two negatives cancel each other out. Technically, “I don’t want none of that!” translates to “I want some of that!” and that’s not what JD’s body language says at all.

So how do we fix the double negative, and, just as importantly, why? The easiest way to fix a double negative is to eliminate one of the negative words. It might mean a restructuring of the sentence.

JD turned his head away from the foul-smelling liquid in the cup Nathan proffered. “I don’t want any of that!”

As to why we’d want to fix a double negative… well, the purpose of most formal writing is to share ideas, research, or results. When presenting any of those three things, the writer wants to be clear about what they are. In addition, using double negatives in the way JD has done above is not grammatically correct, and that’s a no-no in any kind of formal writing.

Having said that, however, there are times when a double negative can be considered correct. The caveat is that the sentence has to be structured correctly to convey the positive idea.

The traveling theatre troupe had set up in the saloon to perform their play, and now they were breaking down the set to move on. Chris wandered in and sat down next to Ezra. “Did you enjoy the show?”

Ezra shrugged and took a sip of his drink. “I didn’t not enjoy it.”

Using a double negative as Ezra does above gives the impression that the show was mediocre at best; it’s a faint positive. He’s certainly not raving about it, but he didn’t hate it, either.

A different way to use the double negative is to use a word with the prefixes un-, in-, or im-.

Vin couldn’t help but notice the way Josiah frowned at the stranger walking down the street and nudged the preacher’s shoulder. “You know him, Josiah?”

Josiah’s frown deepened. “He’s not unfamiliar, but I can’t say I remember his name.”

Other words with a negative connotation include scarcely, hardly, and barely. When you use words like these in a sentence, you don’t need another negative word.

Buck shook his canteen; it sloshed faintly. “Chris, I’ve got hardly any water. Is there a stream around here?”

Double negatives creep into our speech all the time; perhaps the most famous example of all time comes from the Rolling Stones’ “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction.” In your fanfic, the speech of your characters won’t be much different, particularly in certain dialects or time periods. However, while there are rare cases where a double negative could be useful in your narrative (such as the first person point-of-view of a character whose speech often uses double negatives), they should generally be avoided for clarity’s sake.

(If you’re looking for a fun way to learn more about double negatives, take a look at this game. In it, you help a person fill in an application, write a letter, and perform well in an interview.)

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