Welcome to the Grammar Minute, where we’re saving the English language sixty seconds at a time! I’m Lauren Smyth, and why can’t we have double negatives?
To be clear, a double negative is when you use words like “not” and “never” multiple times in reference to the same thing. “I haven’t ever not missed a meeting” is a fairly believable example. Do you mean you’ve never missed a meeting, or you’ve missed all the meetings? Double negatives are unclear because no one is certain whether they cancel each other out or make the negative … more negative. Another example would be “I don’t know nothing about that topic.” Do you know something? Do you know nothing? What does this mean? It’s usually easy to identify a negative, since almost all of them start with “n” or involve a contracted “nt” at the end of a verb. Restrict yourself to one negative per sentence, and you’ll never have this problem.
Interestingly, not all languages prohibit double negatives. Some use them frequently or actually require them. In Russian, for example, you can have triple and quadruple negatives in a perfectly normal sentence.
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