|  |
 | | 
01-Sep-2003, 21:16
| | Editor, UsingEnglish.com | | Join Date: Nov 2002 Country: UK
Posts: 27,067
Current Location: Phnom Penh First Language: English Member Type: English Teacher | |  Double negatives
|
01-Sep-2003, 21:18
| | Editor, UsingEnglish.com | | Join Date: Nov 2002 Country: UK
Posts: 27,067
Current Location: Phnom Penh First Language: English Member Type: English Teacher | |
I did have a definitely not option as well, but the system only allows two possibilities. ;-( |
02-Sep-2003, 15:36
|  | Moderator | | Join Date: Feb 2003 Country: USA
Posts: 15,526
Current Location: North Carolina First Language: English Member Type: Other | |
It can. We Americans have been conditioned by our educational system to believe that it is a bad thing. |
02-Sep-2003, 15:57
| | Editor, UsingEnglish.com | | Join Date: Nov 2002 Country: UK
Posts: 27,067
Current Location: Phnom Penh First Language: English Member Type: English Teacher | |
You will find few educated speakers using it here, despite the fact that Shakespeare did.  |
02-Sep-2003, 16:21
| | Moderator | | Join Date: Feb 2003 Country: USA
Posts: 15,526
Current Location: North Carolina First Language: English Member Type: Other | |
There is a particular kind of "double negative" that is used by many well-respected writers. It manifests itself in expressions like not uncommon, not unusual, and not unlikely. In my humble opinion, it has the problem of vagueness if not verbosity. (I am sure there are those who will disagree.) The meaning of common is imprecise, so the meaning of not uncommon is doubly imprecise.
As I said, that is my opinion. Many (perhaps most) will disagree with it.
:) |
02-Sep-2003, 20:05
| | Editor, UsingEnglish.com | | Join Date: Nov 2002 Country: UK
Posts: 27,067
Current Location: Phnom Penh First Language: English Member Type: English Teacher | |
Those expressions are very common in BE. ;-| |
02-Sep-2003, 21:13
| | Moderator | | Join Date: Feb 2003 Country: USA
Posts: 15,526
Current Location: North Carolina First Language: English Member Type: Other | |
Many vague expressions are quite common, but I try to avoid them, as they lack clarity. |
03-Sep-2003, 11:57
|  | Webmaster, UsingEnglish.com | | Join Date: Nov 2002 Country: England
Posts: 2,877
Current Location: London First Language: British English Member Type: Other | |
Quote: |
Originally Posted by tdol I did have a definitely not option as well, but the system only allows two possibilities. ;-( | Does it? I just added the Definitely Not option!
__________________
Red5
Webmaster, UsingEnglish.com
Please note: I am not a teacher of English, just someone who loves the language. |
03-Sep-2003, 13:48
| | Editor, UsingEnglish.com | | Join Date: Nov 2002 Country: UK
Posts: 27,067
Current Location: Phnom Penh First Language: English Member Type: English Teacher | |
It ate mine- how did you do it? |
03-Sep-2003, 17:26
| | Member | | Join Date: May 2003 Country: Spain
Posts: 133
| |
Quote: |
Originally Posted by RonBee There is a particular kind of "double negative" that is used by many well-respected writers. It manifests itself in expressions like not uncommon, not unusual, and not unlikely. In my humble opinion, it has the problem of vagueness if not verbosity. (I am sure there are those who will disagree.) The meaning of common is imprecise, so the meaning of not uncommon is doubly imprecise.
As I said, that is my opinion. Many (perhaps most) will disagree with it.
:) | As tdol pointed out this type of double negative is common in BE. When I was thinking about the question these examples didn't occur to me. In my original comment I made mention to Spanish:
No me gusta a nadie = I don't like nobody.
No sé nada = I don't know nothing.
These are the types of double negatives I was thinking of, which sound awful to me in English, but perfectly acceptable in Spanish.
Iain | | |
| Thread Tools | | | | Display Modes |  Linear Mode |
Posting Rules
| You may not post new threads You may not post replies You may not post attachments You may not edit your posts
HTML code is Off
| | |
All times are GMT. The time now is 18:30.
|
