WRFH/Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM - Grammar Minute: It Isn't Never Right to Use Double Negatives

Episode Date: February 6, 2025

What does the title of this episode mean? Is it always right--or never right? Learn more on today's episode of Grammar Minute!

Welcome to the Grammar Minute, where we're saving the English language 60 seconds out of time. I'm Lauren Smith, and why can't we have double negatives? To be clear, a double negative is when you use words like not and never multiple times in reference to the same thing. I haven't ever not missed a meeting is a fairly believable example. Do you mean you've never missed a meeting or you've missed all the meetings? Double negatives are unclear because no one is sure whether they cancel each other out or make the negative more negative. Another example would be, I don't know nothing about that topic. Do you know something? Do you know nothing? What does this mean? It's usually easy to identify a negative since almost all of them start with N, or involve a contracted N-T at the end of a verb. Restrict yourself to one negative per sentence, and you'll never have this problem.

Interestingly, not all languages prohibit double negatives. Some use them frequently or actually require them, like Russian. That's your Grammar Minute. Visit thegrammerminit.com for more tips and tricks. Thank you.