Grammar Tips: Double Negatives

Don’t be negative, be positive. You have probably heard that most of your life. Well, in writing that saying holds true. You shouldn’t be overly negative from a grammar perspective, especially double negative.

Avoiding double negatives should be simple, but for some reason it seems to be an ongoing issue with some people. If you put more than one negative in a single clause, you are breaking the rule. This is what breaking the rule reads like:

I didn’t hear nothing you said. (Should read: I didn’t hear anything you said.)

or

We don’t need no stinking badgers. (Should read: We don’t need any stinking badger.s)

Some of the negative trigger words you can look for include: ain’t, nothing, nobody, no one, never, none, no, not and so on. This is a simple rule, just don’t be overly negative. You can be negative once, just not more than once in the same clause.

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Happy writing

Justin