Double Negatives






Double Negatives : Grammar and Spelling Tips



Be sure that you know what you are trying to say if you use two negative words in a sentence. In English, two negatives cancel each other out rather than double the negative force of your sentence. I didn't see no one is a rather strange way of saying that you saw someone rather than an emphatic way of saying that you saw no one.


It is also wrong to say something like There wasn't hardly anyone there.


• Hardly and scarcely should not be used with negatives.


Similarly, the verb miss already has a negative meaning and doesn't need to have a negative added:


Right Sentence : I miss seeing her.


Wrong Sentence : I miss not seeing her.





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