Hi there, this is Harry and welcome back to my English lessons where I try to help you to get
a better understanding of English.Whether it's for conversational English or business
English. Whether you want to try and get through that all important first or second interview
for a job with an international company, whatever it might be, you're in the right
place. And hopefully I can, can help you. So don't forget to subscribe to my channel.
If you want to listen to me, then you can listen to me on the podcast.
Now I'll give you the contact details at the end of this particular lesson.
So what are we going to talk about? Well, often when I'm teaching students, they fall into the old
habit of using what I call double negatives on two negatives, two negative words in the one sentence,
and it's a definite, I'm going to use two negatives now as a definite no, no.
Okay, so it's a definite no, no, don't use double negatives,
for example, I haven't seen nothing. Here, so that's absolutely bad English, and you shouldn't
use it the obvious options, I haven't seen anything. So negative with a positive or positive
with a negative, but it's something that quite happens quite often. And it comes up quite often.
So let me try and explain to you the rationale and the reasoning behind it. Okay, so as I said,
double negatives are not something we'd like to use. Occasionally, they are used, but in very,
very infrequent situations, and also in very, very informal situations, almost like slang. Yeah.
So one expression you might often hear come across in a movie or book is, you ain't seen nothing yet.
You ain't seen nothing yet. And when you look at it written down here, you'll see that there are
two negatives, but it's actually quite acceptable. You hear it in in songs, you ain't seen nothing
yet. Or you hear it in movies. And it is allowed in those situations and only in those situations,
but we wouldn't use it normally. In spoken English, you ain't seen nothing yet.
Okay, so what's the thinking behind it? Well, a double negative is usually defined as
two negative words that appear in the same sentence. And actually, what it results in is a
positive. Okay, so two negatives, make a positive. Okay, so if you're getting confused with that will
try and remember your mathematics. So if somebody asks you to multiply minus two by minus three,
the answer actually will be plus six sounds a little bit strange, but one minus, multiplied by
another minus figure, so minus two and multiply by minus three will actually give you plus six,
and that would be your answer. So if we apply that mathematical thinking to our English is exactly
the same. Two negatives will result in a positive, okay, but we don't use it in spoken English.
So let me give you a little example. Let's say I made the statement, I have nothing, okay,
I have nothing. Nothing is the negative word I have is positive. But the fact that we use
nothing in the sentence turns it into a negative, okay? I have nothing meaning I have no money, or I
have nothing to give you. Or I have nothing to do with that. Something like that. Okay? So it's a,
it's a negative in the sentence that turns it into a negative even though I have is positive, nothing
turns I have from positive into negative, okay, so we can't say I haven't nothing, okay. I have
nothing. So if I could, if I could use it as a two negatives, I might say, I do not have nothing.
Okay, so that that's your two negatives in the sentence, I do not have nothing and remember what
I said about the mathematics minus two multiplied by minus three will equal plus six. So here,
I did not have nothing. Do not one negative nothing, second, negative one negative multiply by
the second negative turns it into the positive. So in actual fact, what that sentence means I do not
have nothing means I have something. Yeah, I have something and that's exactly what we should say we
should look at the positive. I have something okay, not I do not have nothing. Okay? So,
avoid at all costs, avoid those double negatives. So what I'm going to do now, I'm just going to
give you some examples of sentences where we use the double negative and then I'm going to put them
into the correct format. Okay, so the first one will be the double negative. I don't know nobody
who's coming for example, to a party. Don't know, nobody's who's coming.
What you should be saying is, I know nobody who's coming, or I don't know, anybody who's
coming. Okay? So make sure you have a positive and a negative or negative and a positive.
And that would be perfect English. Another example. I don't have no time for that.
I don't have no time for that. What it should be is I don't have any time for that. Okay, or I have
no time for that. I have no time for that. So negative, positive or positive and a negative
I can't get no satisfaction. Well, if you're into the Rolling Stones, you'll probably recognise
that from one of the very early songs of Mick Jagger, I can't get no satisfaction. But it's
okay for him to say it, but not okay for you to say. So what you should say is, I can't get
any satisfaction, or I got no satisfaction. If you were making a complaint, for example,
in a restaurant or a bar or wherever it might be. So I can't get any satisfaction, or I got
no satisfaction. But only if you're Mick Jagger, you can say I can't get no satisfaction, but I'm
not Mick Jagger. And I'm sure he's not listening to this particular podcast or subscribing to
my channel. So we just have to do without. Another example. You ain't seen nothing yet. And
another line from another song. I can't remember which song this is. But it's You ain't seen
nothing yet. And usually when this song was sung, it's something you ain't seen nothing yet. PVB
You ain't seen nothing yet. So the song goes, but in this case,
when we say You ain't seen nothing yet, what we really mean to say is,
you haven't seen anything yet. You haven't seen anything yet. And it's much better English. Don't
get confused by the words of the song enjoy the song, by all means, try and sing it much better
than I did. I hope but you You ain't seen nothing yet. Should be you haven't seen anything yet.
I can't find my keys nowhere. I can't find my keys nowhere. It's not from a song. It's just
somebody comes in and they're looking for the car keys. I can't find my keys nowhere.
I cannot find my keys anywhere. I cannot find my keys anywhere. Okay,
so nowhere becomes anywhere. That negative, that second negative, put it into a positive then you
have one negative I cannot find my keys anywhere. I want positive perfect English. Okay. Again,
avoid at all costs those double negatives. She never goes with nobody. She never goes with
nobody. Again, you're getting hopefully the hang of it. Now. She never goes with anybody. He or she
goes with nobody. Yeah. So if you're wondering why daughter or friend doesn't go to the cinema, she
never goes with anybody. She always goes on her own. She never goes with anybody. She always goes
on our own. Or she goes with nobody, she prefers to go on her own either. We'll do one negative one
positive on positive, one negative. And then finally, all the witnesses.
So if we're talking about a detective story, all the witnesses claimed that they didn't see nobody.
All the witnesses claimed that they didn't see nobody should read. All the witnesses claimed
that they didn't see anybody, they didn't see anybody. Okay, so avoid those double negatives
make the sentence sound much more effective and much, much more professional.
Like all English, that tends to be a few exceptions. So let me just give you a few
exemption exceptions in relation to this aspect of double negatives. They can be
permitted if the intention is to make a positive statement. So let me just read you an example.
It wasn't very expensive. So talking about some dress or a pair of shoes. It wasn't very
expensive, but it certainly didn't cost nothing. So here you mean, it certainly cost something it
was actually money, but it wasn't as expensive as I thought. So we again, it wasn't very expensive,
but it certainly didn't cost nothing. Okay. It means that you didn't get it for nothing you did
have to pay but not what you had thought you might have to pay so we can use it when the intention
is to turn it into a positive. Okay. Or let's give you another example. When I
said I didn't want a lot of fuss about my birthday, I didn't mean no fuss. Yeah.
Okay, so When I said I didn't want any fuss about my birthday, I didn't mean no fuss. So here, we're
using two negatives. But in fact, we can use it because the intention was for it to be a positive.
So what you're really saying is, when I said I didn't want any fuss, my, for my birthday, I meant
a little bit, but not a big party or a big hurrah, I wanted something, perhaps something in the in
the family. So you wanted something, but not the big, big, flamboyant, expensive celebration case.
So you can in that situation, both of the examples I've given you, you can use the double negatives,
because the intention was to turn them into a positive. And that's the type of exception that
we're talking about when, when we mentioned. Another way in which we can use a double negatives
is where we perhaps use not. And then we follow it with a word with a prefix like
I R or non one of those. So let me give you a little example of that.
He wasn't irresponsible about his duties, he wasn't irresponsible about his duties,
means he was responsible, he was very responsible about his duties.
This gemstone is not uncommon, okay, is not uncommon. So not negative on common,
could be negative, but it means is, this gemstone is common, you see it everywhere, okay.
And finally, the results are not inconclusive, the results are not inconclusive means that they
are conclusive, we did get information from the results. So in those situations, you're using not
a negative word with the negative of an adjective by adding one of those prefixes that we've looked
at, in other examples, okay, so you'll see them written on the screen here. So just study them for
a while. And just to understand what they mean. And if you have any problems, come back to me,
and I'll try and explain it to you again. So let's just look at a quick rule of
thumb when we want to use anything, and anything also includes words with any like,
anybody or anyone. Okay, so we can use them in questions.
Is there anything I can do for you? Is there anyone you want me to call? Is there anybody,
you know, suitable for this job? So we can use it in that context? Okay.
And if we want to use them with statements that include not, or no, yeah, I don't know
anything about it. Yeah. I don't know anybody that would be suitable. I don't know anyone
that would be able to answer the question, okay. So you can use it in that context.
And if you want to use nothing, when then we can use it in statements
where there is no other negative word. There is nothing I can do. There is nothing I can
add. There is nothing more I can tell you. Okay, so that's use those as a rule of thumb. Okay,
so what we've basically been talking about are double negatives, and impressing hopefully upon
you the fact that double negatives are a definite, no, no, we don't use them.
There are exceptions. And I've covered those, hopefully, in the lesson that you'll be able to
go back over them and you'll see it on the screen. Again, if you don't understand that if you don't
follow it. Come back to me and I'll try to explain it again and give you a few more examples. Okay,
but double negatives. Occasionally you'll see them you will definitely hear them in songs,
you will definitely hear them in movies like you ain't seen nothing yet. Okay? But
we don't use them in speech because they sound wrong. They give a bad impression,
and they're really quite negative. Okay, so double negatives. Thanks a lot for listening.
As I said before, if you want to subscribe the channel,
please do so if you want to listen to me on the podcast. You can do so also.
And if you want to contact me, well, you can contact me on www.englishlessonviaskype.com.
Very happy to hear from you. Very happy to talk to you. Thanks for listening. I hope
you enjoy this. I hope you enjoy future podcasts and videos. Join me again soon.