the use of twonegatives(= words thatmean"no")in the same phrase orsentence:
双重否定
The phrase "a notunfamiliarsituation" is anexampleof adoublenegative.短语“一种并非不熟悉的情况”就是一个双重否定的例子。
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Linguistics: grammatical terms
ablative
apposition
appositive
appositively
attributively
concord
demonstrative
feminine
intensifier
nominal
nominative
predicatively
premodifier
quantifier
regularity
singular
stative
syntactic
syntax
uncountable
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Grammar
Double negatives and usage
In standard English, when we use negative words such as nobody, nowhere, never or nothing, we do not commonly use a negative verb:…
Negation
When we want to say that something is not true or is not the case, we can use negative words, phrases or clauses. Negation can happen in a number of ways, most commonly, when we use a negative word such as no, not, never, none, nobody, etc:…
Forming negative statements, questions and imperatives
We form negative statements with not or n’t after be, modal and auxiliary verbs. n’t is the contracted form of not. In informal language we can add n’t, without a space, to be, to modal verbs (except may) and to auxiliary verbs (do and have). The negative contracted form of will is won’t. The uncontracted form of can + not is cannot.…
Negation: two negatives
Standard English does not have two negatives in the same clause (double negatives). Words such as never, nobody, no one, none, nothing, nowhere, etc. already have a negative meaning, so we don’t need another negative with the verb:…
We don’t use not with some, someone, somebody, something, somewhere in statements. We use any, anyone, anybody, anything, anywhere:…
Negation in non-finite clauses
Non-finite clauses are clauses without a subject, where the main verb is in the to-infinitive form, the -ing form or the -ed form. To make the negative of a non-finite clause, we can use not.…
Negative prefixes and suffixes
We use these prefixes most commonly in negation: de-, dis-, il-/im-/in-/ir-, mis-, non-, un-:…
Negative adverbs:hardly, seldom, etc.
Some adverbs (e.g. hardly, little, never, only, scarcely and seldom) have a negative meaning. When we use these at the beginning of the clause, we invert the subject and verb:…
Negation: emphasising
When we want to emphasise something negative, we often use at all. We normally use at all immediately after the word or phrase we are emphasising:…
Negation ofthink,believe,suppose,hope
When we use verbs like think, believe, suppose (mental process verbs) to express uncertainty about something, we usually use not with the mental process verb rather than with the verb in the following clause:…
First, as regards donations, the boundary is set very inelegantly in adoublenegativeof, "not less than £5,000".
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under theOpen Parliament Licence v3.0
In sum, the efficacy of ' anti-economic ' deployments of money as ' oppositional ideology ' is rendered here as adoublenegative.
From theCambridge English Corpus
Actually, thedoublenegativehas a long history in the spoken language.
From theCambridge English Corpus
In this example, the parent corrects both of the child's errors - thedoublenegativeand the incorrect agreement.
From theCambridge English Corpus
Reflections on adoublenegative: misarticulation and inconsistency.
From theCambridge English Corpus
It contains adoublenegativewhich produced a nonsensical result.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under theOpen Parliament Licence v3.0
We wanted to get rid of thedoublenegative, but we were not party to the removal of the whole paragraph.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under theOpen Parliament Licence v3.0
The use of thedoublenegativelends itself to confusion.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under theOpen Parliament Licence v3.0
I am sorry about thedoublenegativebut the enforcement is not conditional on there not being a dispute.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under theOpen Parliament Licence v3.0
He used adoublenegative, but what he meant is pretty clear.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under theOpen Parliament Licence v3.0
This is purely drafting and avoids adoublenegative.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under theOpen Parliament Licence v3.0
Why on earth is it necessary to use adoublenegativeto define what is operational?
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under theOpen Parliament Licence v3.0
The amendment proposed removes thedoublenegativeand states that it shall be, "discharged only through the joint committee".
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under theOpen Parliament Licence v3.0
It is the old way of using adoublenegativefor a positive affirmative.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under theOpen Parliament Licence v3.0
It is adoublenegative, so to speak.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under theOpen Parliament Licence v3.0
These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.