How can you explain that this double negation is not a double negation? Is there a rule in English about this kind of sentence?  PS / Do I have to mention Pink Floyd Copyright ? :-)  Edit : Since there are a lot of Pink Floyd related explanation, I'll bring a Freddy Mercury one : "I don't have time for no monkey business", which I also understand as "I don't have time for monkey business". Am I right ?
17702
In contemporary American English usage, I come across sentences like:   I ain’t got no money.  Ain’t no man like him.    Saying ain’t no sounds incorrect to me because it is a double negative.  What is the origin of this particular construction? I wasn’t able to find anything online related to the origins of this incorrect usage.
66726
I am reading a journal and found a sentence which seems wrong. The sentence is,     It  is apparent  that  the errors originate from outside the model.   This sentence used from and outside together which are supposed to be preposition here. I guess double preposition is not allowed in the English Grammar. May someone clarify this point for me? Moreover, I rewrote the sentence. May anyone check whether my modification makes the sentence correct?  The modified sentence:     1.) It is apparent that the errors originate outside the model.       2.) It is apparent that the errors originate from the outside of the model.   Any help are appreciated!  UTC +8:00 12/13/2013 4:05 PM  Follow-up question:  So double preposition is not incorrect. But in this example, it seems redundant to use "from outside". Like my 1st alternative, just "outside" is enough to express all the meaning. Should we avoid double preposition in this case? Or does it express some specific meaning that I have not understood yet?
36753
on the internet I read the following explanation: "we aren't using "no" to agree, we are using "no" to CONFIRM the negative statement."  Does that mean you confirm a negative question with no and agree with yes? That somehow seems strange to me?
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Let a statement P is "X is true if and only if Y is true". What is the negation of P? I am little confused. It seems that digital equivalent of this statement is P = X and Y. Hence negation of P is (not X) or (not Y) i.e. Either X or Y is false. Am I right guys?
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[i] He hadn’t better tell them. (CGEL, p.113)   [ii] He had better not tell her. (CGEL, p.196)   According to CGEL, negation can be marked after or before better. But I can’t find any examples of [i] in COCA or BNC. So it seems to be not grammatical issue but others in there. Why aren’t there any examples of [i] in those corpuses?
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In English, the number 0 is treated as plural. It is then:   0 seconds 1 second    1.2 seconds   2 seconds     Shouldn't it be "nobody want to go there," instead of "nobody wants to go there"?  I also saw in TOEFL that "any __" should be used with a singular.  But I see it very common that it is a plural also.  Why is that?  (updated: example, "we don't have any apples any more" vs "If you get any apple, please let me know.")
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Here is the sentence from the test     Without the Sun there _____________ no light, no heat, no energy of any kind.   a) will be   b) would be   c) will   The answer is obviously "b" because it is second conditional. However in another sentence     Oxygen is an element of greatest importance to the Earth as all living things __________ without it.   a) would die   b) will die   c) will be dying   the correct answer is "b" and not "a". I don't understand why, because both sentences are constructed similarly, even the "without" preposition appears in both of them.
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Consider the next idiom:     Go back to square one   For me, as a non-native speaker, putting the in front of square one sounds equally good as not putting it at all. But, when I speak with native speakers, for them saying the before square one sounds as a broken English.  On the other hand, if I take an another example:     There are a few problems. The first one is ...   My question is, what is the difference? Why in the case of idiom the should not be said, but in the second case it has to be said?
18341
There is something that I often I meet in English.  It is the use of "to not", and I'm not sure about its correctness since I'm not a native English  speaker. For example:      I brought it to you in order to not give it to her.        He came from this way in order to not see you.   Is it correct to speak like that in English?
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Do we say "-1 thing" or "-1 things"?  I am interested in both      two things minus one thing(s)    and      minus/negative one thing(s)
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I've just seen the following sentence on a band's biography:     Had it not been for a studio theft, the band might never have made that song.   Then I was wondering if I can change this sentence to:     If it were not for a studio theft, the band might never have made that song.   Is the second sentence correct? Are they interchangeable?   Thanks in advance.
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I never really gave a deep thought at this but recently a teacher of talked about language and there was an implicit question in it. something like  there is a difference between "rather than" and "instead of" in usage. do you know it??  please help and explain with a few examples.
16736
I have this question that my brain cannot understand because for me it seems to be very illogical. Please, try to explain this to me. It is both english problem but also my native language problem.  For example: If I bought something two days ago. (e.g. Monday, so today is Wednesday) I can't say during Wednesday that I haven't bought anything for 2 days.  Because I skiped just one day and I can still buy something today no? So I would say which makes more logic to me: I haven't bought anything for 1 day.  Same as if I was at the club on Monday now is Wednesday, I would say I haven't been to that club for 1 day. Since today I can still go there. However, i saw more people using it the other way. Which in my opinion is illogical.  They say: I haven't bought anything for 2 days OR I haven't been to that club for 2 days meaning the last time they were there was two days ago. However how logical is it? Imagine you come to that club on Wednesday if you were there on Monday and say to the same barman you saw there on Monday that you haven't been here for 2 days and he would look like: what? are you stupid? You weren't here just one day.  Like as the first question, I haven't purchased anything for 2 days is valid only if you last purchased something on monday and today is thursday, in my opinion, because we should not count monday since you already bought something.  Does anybody get my point? Thanks for answers and your help.
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I've just come across a film review by an American author where he says:  "I can assure you that both are not typical in any part of this state".  In negative sentences like that, my inclination would be to use "neither one of them is..." instead (or, depending, none of them is/are...).   Is it right to say "both are not..." ?
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How would you explain to a person who is learning English, and whose native language does not have attributive nouns, when the possessive should be used instead of an attributive noun?  In particular, how would you explain it referring to the following list of sentences?   Today's news is bad This week's schedule has been changed Tomorrow's lunch will be at the French restaurant This year's report will be communicated in the reunion room Last summer's vacations were memorable Last year's meetings were a complete disaster
21938
Is there any alternative to this construction?      It was too stupid a question.    I mean, can we somehow put the 'a' in a different position and is it used in English (maybe informal) or the version I've given is the only possible?  Also, I feel as if something's wrong in my previous sentence, it would be very nice if anybody corrected it.
7481
Is this the proper way to use two possessive nouns in a row?     I am going over to Lauren's parents' house this evening.   or     The store's manager's niece was quite attractive.   What about three?*     The United States Army's general's wife's dog is on the lamb, somebody stop it.   *Three seems both unrealistic, and in the specific example I used you could make a case for adding a fourth United State's Army's but I think that seems even more unrealistic.  Additionally, I would never write this in any sort of setting other than the purpose of knowing what the rules are.  Thanks in advance, I apologize in advance if this is duplicate