10. Mike did (bad, badly) on his driver’s test.
Double Negatives
A negative is a “no” word such as no, not, never, nobody, nothing, hardly, or scarcely.
The n’t in a contraction (as in don’t) is a negative. A double negative occurs when TWO
negatives are mistakenly used to make one negative statement. The remedy? Simply re-
move one of the negatives.
The examples below show two ways of removing one of the negative words.
NEGATIVES
Two: I don’t have no homework tonight.
One: I have no homework tonight.
One: I don’t have any homework tonight.
Two: Juan isn’t going to have nothing to do with you.
One: Juan is going to have nothing to do with you.
One: Juan isn’t going to have anything to do with you.
Two: Don’t never read the final pages of a thriller first.
One: Never read the final pages of a thriller first.
One: Don’t ever read the final pages of a thriller first.
Two: There aren’t hardly any sandwiches left.
Two: Nobody isn’t left to play goalie.
One: Nobody is left to play goalie.
One: There isn’t anybody left to play goalie.
Either change a negative word to its opposite (for example, nothing to anything, never to
ever, no to any) or eliminate a negative contraction. Do not do both, though. You will end
up with a sentence that makes no sense, such as “I have any homework tonight.”
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