Grammar

Doppelt hält besser! Aber trifft das auch fürs Verneinen zu? TENLEY VAN DEN BERG zeigt, was es damit im Englischen auf sich hat.

Negation (2)

At the weekend, Yana and Rob went to a presentation hosted by their company. They discuss it during their Monday morning videoconference.

Did you go to the design-thinking presentation?

Yes, I did. And I had that Pink Floyd song going through my head the whole time. [starts to sing] “We don’t need no education. We don’t need no thought control.” I can see why. I don’t like being expected to attend work-related events at the weekend. It’s not as if I don’t have better things to do on a Saturday morning. What did you think of the presenter? Holy moly, was he awful or what? Listening to him was painful!

I’m not an unkind person, but he clearly had no idea what he was talking about. And the presentation itself was impossible to follow. I almost felt sorry for him. Well, I have to admit that these kinds of events aren’t a bad idea, but next time, they should get a good presenter and hold it during the week.

I couldn’t agree more.

Exercise: Double trouble

The following statements use double or multiple negative constructions. Rewrite them without negation to make them easier to understand.

A. Don’t not attend the event just because last year’s was bad.

B. It is not unlikely that the same man will give the presentation.

C. He is not a bad presenter, just a little boring.

D. It is not as if he didn’t prepare well.

EXPLANATIONS

In issue 4/2020, we discussed the basics of how to construct negated statements and questions. Here, we explore double negation, or what are often called “double negatives”.

To say that something is incorrect or untrue, English speakers use words like “no”, “not” and “nothing”, prefixes such as “un-”, “in-” and “im-” and the suffix “-less”. In standard English, only one of these is normally used to communicate a negative meaning: He clearly had no idea what he was talking about. The presentation itself was impossible to follow.

Double or multiple negation involves using two or more instances of negation. In standard English, a double negative can be used as an indirect — and, sometimes, stronger — way of conveying a positive meaning:

It’s not as if I don’t have better things to do on a Saturday morning. (= I have better things to do.)

Negative words such as “no” or “not” can also be placed before an adjective or adverb that has a negative sense (or before a negative prefix) to communicate a weak positive meaning:

These kinds of events aren’t a bad idea.

(= They’re fairly good.)

I’m not an unkind person… (= I’m pretty kind.)

A double negative that is used to reinforce a negative meaning is usually considered to be non-standard English, although this is standard in certain dialects and varieties of English:

He never paid me no money.

Double negatives are also common in song lyrics to convey a negative meaning. Here, two negatives clearly do not make a positive:

We don’t need no education.

I can’t get no satisfaction.

You ain't seen nothing yet.

Non-native speakers should generally avoid non-standard double negations and use standard double negatives with care. It is easier for the human brain to understand positive constructions, and double negatives can carry shades of meaning that can be misunderstood.

In order to avoid unintentional implications when communicating internationally, it is often safer to use positive constructions:

Less clear: They should not get a bad presenter. Better: They should get a good presenter.