Double Negatives - Rutherford County Schools
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Transcript Double Negatives - Rutherford County Schools
Double Negatives
Grade 5
What is a negative?
A negative is a word that means
“no.”
Ex: Nobody saw me.
Ex: I have nothing to do.
Rule: Do not use two negatives in the
same sentence! It is called a double
negative.
A double negative contains
two negative words:
He doesn't even know no one
My sister used to play.. um
basketball.. but she doesn't
no more
They don’t have nothin
But no-one didn’t answered
Correcting Double
Negatives
The clause I don't have none
contains two negative words—the
contraction don't and the adjective
none. If you don't have none, then
you do have some. To express a
negative idea, you should use only
one negative word.
Remember:
In addition to such negative words
as never, no, none, and not, the
words scarcely, hardly, and barely
function as negatives and should not
be used with other negative words in
the same clause
Incorrect
He never cooks nothing exciting for
dinner.
Correct
He never cooks anything exciting for
dinner.
Incorrect
We can't hardly wait for a change in
the menu.
Correct
We can hardly wait for a change in
the menu.
Correct
We can't wait for a change in the
menu.
Incorrect
You haven't been reading no books
on how to cook bugs, have you?
correct
You haven't been reading any books
on how to cook bugs, have you?
Correct
You haven't been reading books on
how to cook bugs, have you?
Words combined with n't and
the word not are negative
words.
Incorrect
Lisa did not feel nothing.
Correct
Lisa felt nothing.
Give yourself a test.
. They didn't have
(any, no)
tickets.
. Our team hasn't
won the
league title. (never, ever)
Always remember:
Don't use no double
negatives. . .
Or
maybe we
should say,
Don’t use any
double negatives!
Class work
Textbook page 171 #1-8 Part B
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