WRFH/Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM - Grammar Minute: RERUN: It's Not Unlikely That You've Seen This Before

Episode Date: October 16, 2024

The dreaded "not un-" construction returns in today's rerun episode of Grammar Minute.

Welcome to the Grammar Minute, where we're saving the English language 60 seconds at a time. I'm Lauren Smith, and today we're going to talk about not-unimportant things, which is to say we're going to talk about important things. Seriously, what's with the not-un construction? Generally, not an un shouldn't appear together because they're repetitive, similarly to a double negative. If you find yourself saying something like, it's not unpleasant, you probably mean either that it's mediocre or it's pleasant.

Pick one of these two. Don't combine them with the not-un structure. The exception to this rule is if you're rebutting a statement. Suppose someone tells you that's an unusual writing style. You might respond, it's not unusual, it's just antiquated. In this case, you can't replace not-un with a single word, and that's a good rule of thumb. If you can replace not-un with a single word, don't say not-un. If you can't, do say not-un.

That's your Grammar Minute on Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM. Thank you.