rfc
English
Noun
double negative
- A phrase in which there are two (adverbial) negatives or their compounds (no, not, never, none, etc) in a sentence, occasionally leading to ambiguity in the meaning, but necessary in some foreign languages. Not to be confused with the rhetorical device of litotes.
Examples in English
#:Jimmy, you look awfully guilty, have you been naughty again?
#:Me sir, no sir, I haven't done nothing wrong, I swear.
Usage notes
Usage of the double negative is still regarded as an illiteracy. Its use in English, as with other languages, intensifies the negation and rare is the native-speaker who would not understand this. The idea that two negatives equal a positive is a confusion of the double negative and litotes, the latter of which indeed makes a positive out of an adverbial negative and a lexically-based negative (e.g., "She is not unhappy").
Category:Semantics
tr:double negative
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