Negatives

Negatives

In grammar, a negative word expresses the absence of something. If I say, "I have no flour for the cookie dough," I am telling my reader about the absence of flour in my pantry. This is called a negative statement.



In grammar, as in math, two negatives make a positive. If I say, "I hardly have no flour for the cookie dough," I've used two negatives, hardly and no, to explain the condition of flour in my pantry. This is called a double negative. My sentence becomes a positive statement, indicating to my reader that I do indeed have flour in my pantry.



In English grammar, two negative words should never be used in the same sentence to refer to same thing.



Negative words include:

no

none

nobody

not

nothing

nowhere

no one

hardly

barely

scarcely

neither

 . . . and in Georgia, nairn, as in the standard double negative, I ain't got nairn, which southerners innately understand to mean, I don't have any.



What double negatives are commonly accepted in your local vernacular?



Tomorrow: Objects



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