Double Negative Examples

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Double Negative - Glossary of Terms

Double Negative

A double negative is usually produced by combining the negative form of verb (e.g., cannot, did not, have not) with a negative pronoun (e.g., nothing, nobody), a negative adverb (e.g., never, hardly) or a negative conjunction (e.g., neither/nor).

Examples:

I didn't see nothing.

I did not have neither her address nor her phone number.

It wasn't uninteresting

She is not unattractive.

A double negative gives the sentence a positive sense. (e.g., "I didn't see nothing" is similar in meaning to "I saw something.") A double negative is not always an error. The latter two examples, meaning "It was interesting." and "She is attractive.", are fine.

Interactive example:

She claims she has not seen neither Paul nor John since May. [show me the double negative]

Associated pages:

Either/or and neither/nor (beware the double negative)
Glossary of grammatical terms