SKILL 8: LISTEN FOR DOUBLE NEGATIVE EXPRESSIONS

Some sentences have two negative expressions that together make a positive idea. For example:

    (Man) I can’t believe the news that I heard about the concert.

    (Woman) Well, it isn’t impossible for the concert to take place.

     (Question) What does the woman say about the concert?

In your test book, you read:

(A) There’s no possibility that the concert will happen.

(B) The concert will definitely not happen.

(C) The concert might happen.

(D) The concert can’t happen.

The woman says it’s not impossible, so she means it is possible. “The concert might happen” has the same meaning as “The concert is possible.”, therefore this is the correct answer. (C)

Watch out for these kinds of double negatives:

A negative word and a word with a negative prefix:

    He is not unlike his father. -> He is like his father.

    She is never unable to talk. -> She is always able to talk.

Two negative verbs:

    It isn’t snowing, so they aren’t going to the mountains. -> If it were snowing, they would go to the mountains.

Neither or not either:

    Sue didn’t like the movie, and neither did Mark. -> They both did not like the movie.

Remember that some kinds of double negatives are not considered grammatical in English. Don’t say sentences like these:

We don’t never go the the movies.

Nobody doesn’t want to pay high taxes.

I didn’t do no homework yesterday.

Instead, say:

We don’t ever go to the movies.

Nobody wants to pay high taxes.

I didn’t do any homework yesterday.

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