Double Negative | Meaning, Examples & Usage Rules
A double negative is a sentence that uses two negatives—such as “not” and “nobody.”
In formal English grammar, double negatives are incorrect because the two negative words cancel each other’s meaning. For example, “I didn’t talk to nobody” technically means “I talked to at least one person rather than zero people.”
Although you should avoid double negatives in formal situations (e.g., essays, cover letters, or job interviews), double negatives are perfectly fine in creative writing and casual conversation. Double negatives are also common in movies, TV shows, pop songs, poetry, and fiction.
Avoiding double negative mistakes is a two-step process:
- Know which English words are negatives.
- Use only one negative in each clause or sentence.
- The Fall Guy isn’t hardly the best movie, but I did enjoy it.
- The Fall Guy is hardly the best movie, but I did enjoy it.
What is a double negative?
A double negative is a statement that contains any two of the following negatives.
| Not or n’t | Barely | Nothing |
| Never | Rarely | Nobody |
| No | Scarcely | None |
| Nowhere | Seldom | Neither |
| Neither … nor | Hardly | Nor |
Double negatives are considered incorrect because formal English uses only one negative per sentence. For example, the three examples below would be incorrect in academic writing because they each have two negatives.
- Worrying never solves nothing.
- We can’t hardly afford a new house.
- You ain’t going nowhere.
Double negative meaning in sentences
Double negatives used to be common in the English language. In the 1700s, writing textbooks began describing double negatives as errors that have imprecise meanings. When you interpret a double negative literally, it has a positive meaning rather than a negative meaning.
| Double negative | Literal meaning | Correction |
|---|---|---|
| We don’t need no roads where we’re going. | We do not need “zero roads.” | We don’t need any roads where we’re going. |
| Billie never wears nothing fancy. | Billie is at no time wearing “zero fancy things.” | Billie never wears anything fancy. |
| Marco won’t never visit Kansas City again. | Marco will not “at no time” visit Kansas City again. | Marco won’t ever visit Kansas City again. |
However, even though the literal meaning of these double negatives is imprecise, the intended meaning is clear, which is why double negatives are part of some English dialects.
When are double negatives used for emphasis?
In many situations besides formal English writing, people intentionally use double negatives to emphasize a negative meaning or when they’re using an English dialect.
Double negatives in English dialects and other languages
Just as double negatives used to be “proper English,” they’re still common in English dialects and grammatically correct in several languages. For example, in Portuguese and French, multiple negatives in the same sentence intensify the negative meaning. The linguistic terms for this practice are “emphatic negation” or “negative concord.”
Double negatives in creative writing
Double negatives are common in creative writing (e.g., movie dialogue, fiction, poetry, or music), particularly when a narrator or character speaks an English dialect with emphatic negation (e.g., one of the many southern US dialects).
- Song titles: “You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet” (Bachman-Turner Overdrive), “Ain’t No Love in Oklahoma” (Luke Combs), “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” (Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell), or “Don’t Come ‘Round Here No More” (Tom Petty)
- Literary quotes: “That’s just the way with some people. They get down on a thing when they don’t know nothing about it” (Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain)
Litotes
Litotes is a style choice that’s similar to double negatives because it combines two forms of negative phrasing in one sentence. A common form of litotes is to use “not” or a contraction with “-n’t” with another word that has a negative connotation. Unlike double negatives, litotes is not a grammatical error.
The pasta was definitely overcooked, but it wasn’t terrible.
The movie was difficult to follow, but I didn’t dislike it.
How to correct double negative mistakes
Double negative mistakes usually happen when a sentence includes “not” or “never” and one of the other English negatives. The following tips will help you eliminate double negatives in formal writing.
Remove “not” or “never”
When part of a double negative is “not” or “never,” you can remove one of these words as long as it doesn’t change your intended meaning.
When you remove “never” to fix a double negative, the rest of the sentence usually doesn’t need to change.
If you remove “not” to fix a double negative that also includes the auxiliary verbs “do,” “does,” or “did,” you may need to revise the action verb as well.
- For a present-tense double negative with “do” or “does” (e.g., “Sheila does not cook nothing”), remove “does not” or “do not,” and revise the action verb for subject-verb agreement (e.g., “Sheila cooks nothing”).
- For a past-tense double negative with “did” (e.g., “Sheila did not cook nothing”), remove “did not,” and revise the action verb to the affirmative past-tense form (e.g., “Sheila cooked nothing”).
- Fran never grew up with neither of her two sisters.
- Fran grew up with neither of her two sisters.
- Frodo does not go nowhere without Gandalf.
- Frodo goes nowhere without Gandalf.
- Roz didn’t know nobody on the island.
- Roz knew nobody on the island.
Revise a negative to its positive counterpart
Another way to eliminate double negatives is by replacing one of the negatives with its antonym (e.g., “any” instead of “none”). For example, you can say “don’t have any” instead of “don’t have none.”
| Negative word | Positive counterpart | Examples in sentences |
|---|---|---|
| Nowhere | Anywhere |
|
| Barely, rarely, scarcely, seldom, or hardly | Really |
|
| Nor | Or |
|
| Neither … nor | Either … or |
|
| No/none | Any |
|
| Nobody | Anybody |
|
| Nothing | Anything |
|
Like any type of grammar error, double negatives can be challenging, but just remember—QuillBot’s free Grammar Checker is here to help!
Frequently asked questions about double negative
- What are some double negative examples?
-
Some double negative examples include the following:
- I can’t hardly wait to see The Wild Robot (“can’t” should say “can”).
- Australia isn’t nowhere near the US (you can revise this to “is nowhere” or “isn’t anywhere”).
- We never learned from none of our mistakes (you can revise this by removing “never” or changing “none” to “any”).
Have you tried QuillBot’s free Grammar Checker? It can help you instantly find double negatives and similar errors.
- Is ain’t a word?
-
Yes, ain’t is a word. “Ain’t” is an informal contraction for “is not,” “are not,” “am not,” “do not,” “does not,” “have not” or “has not.” Like double negatives, “ain’t” is part of many English dialects, but it’s not advisable in formal English writing.
For example, if you’re writing a formal essay or communicating at work, it’s better to say “Laughter isn’t always the best medicine” than “Laughter ain’t always the best medicine.”
QuillBot’s free Grammar Checker can help you avoid “ain’t” in formal writing.
- It is not ever or not never?
-
The correct phrasing is not ever because not never is a double negative.
For example, one could say “I have not ever been to Paris” or “I haven’t ever been to Paris, but not “I have not never been to Paris” or “I haven’t never been to Paris.”
Mistakes like “not never” sometimes happen when you’re busy writing, but not to worry! QuillBot’s free Grammar Checker can instantly find and fix these errors.
