Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
A double negative is a construction occurring when two forms of grammatical negation are used in the same sentence. This is typically used to convey a different shade of meaning from a strictly positive sentence ("You're not unattractive" vs "You're attractive").
In linguistics and grammar, affirmation (abbreviated AFF) and negation (NEG) are ways in which grammar encodes positive and negative polarity into verb phrases, clauses, or other utterances. An affirmative (positive) form is used to express the validity or truth of a basic assertion, while
In propositional logic, the double negation of a statement states that "it is not the case that the statement is not true". In classical logic, every statement is logically equivalent to its double negation, but this is not true in intuitionistic logic; this can be expressed by the formula A ≡ ~(~A) where the sign ≡ expresses logical equivalence and the sign ~ expresses negation.
Double negatives as negative concord – e.g., "We don't need no education" [15] Certain double modals – e.g., "You might could do it" – not considered standard, but used for example in Southern American English [16] Double copula [17] – e.g., "What has to happen is, is that the money has to come from somewhere" [18] Preposition stranding ...
Get AOL Mail for FREE! Manage your email like never before with travel, photo & document views. Personalize your inbox with themes & tabs. You've Got Mail!
Use positive statements and avoid negatives or double negatives. Do not make assumptions about the respondent. Use clear and comprehensible wording, easily understandable for all educational levels; Use correct spelling, grammar and punctuation. Avoid items that contain more than one question per item (e.g. Do you like strawberries and potatoes?).
In rhetoric, litotes (/ l aɪ ˈ t oʊ t iː z, ˈ l aɪ t ə t iː z /, US: / ˈ l ɪ t ə t iː z /), [1] also known classically as antenantiosis or moderatour, is a figure of speech and form of irony in which understatement is used to emphasize a point by stating a negative to further affirm a positive, often incorporating double negatives for effect.
It seems to me that an expression like “can’t not” is awkward, in any register of English, in contrast with “cannot but”. To me, “cannot but” is a double negative which is unambiguously a strong positive. TomS TDotO 11:07, 30 August 2022 (UTC) What would an example of that be? Because for "can't not", it can be pretty simple.