I'm asking this question because I was taught not to use double negatives, because they are ungrammatical and that people who use them sound uneducated. However, today here on this site I found an answer with a double negative and asked my self is it correct to use double negatives? Well my doubts arose since this answer has eight positive votes. Even though I understand the meaning of it, I still wonder if it is correct or not. Below is the answer I'm talking about as well is the link to it.  Answer:     "It might add the subtle extra nuance of meaning that since you were born he's never not been in the family."   Link:   P.S. Not trying to put this site and the people from it in doubt, just clarifying and making sure to learn well this beautiful language.
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In my native language, double negations "cancel out". I have been trying to learn English using movies and such things, but double negation confuses me. I see instances when double negation cancels out, and some when they do not.  For example, "I haven't got no money" is interpreted as "I have no money." "There wasn't anyone who didn't enjoy the party" is interpreted as "Everyone enjoyed the party."  Is this context dependent? If so, how does one decide which interpretation is correct?
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I was reading this today:  We look forward to following your progress.  Am I correct in thinking that it is missing a be or that -ing should be removed?  So  We look forward to be following your progress.  or  We look forward to follow your progress.  Interestingly I get the same jarring feeling when reading the examples here
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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.
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Today I posted  about a C++ issue I found a bit confusing. Since I am a complete beginner in C++, all I could do was to write a short summary and ask for advice. The question attracted a couple of insightful answers and I was quite happy with those. To my complete surprise, an hour later the question had received 3 downvotes without any comment or suggestion. Since I always put effort into making my posts decently formatted and thorough, it kind of struck a nerve. I was puzzled as to why. I am not a native English speaker so nuances of language usually elude me. Is it the wording? Tone? Formatting? Too RTFM? To quote a comment from :  @Martinho: I missed that OP's passing Buffer the first time. Can't imagine someone managing C strings without any idea how the C string functions work...  Did the question get downvoted because it displayed ignorance? How could I have asked it differently to avoid the downvotes?  Update I just had.. um.. a strange exchange with one of the members from the C++ community. That member posted an answer here attempting to explain the background. However, after realizing the contradiction in hers/his arguments a possibility of an extended chat session, the delete link got clicked. I am not going to reveal the identity but nevertheless will share the discussion. I feel it sheds some light on the issue. Note that the person was apparently not one of the voters. The deleted answer  I think the accepted answer to the original question also answers this question: There are lots of problems with your code. You asked why one piece of code (with several errors) didn't work, when some other code (also with several errors) seemed to work better. In reality the difference was just random, and neither of them really works. It took a lot of effort for someone to put together an answer, and I didn't have the time (being at work), so would just have downvoted if there hadn't been enough downvotes already. Leaving a comment that there were several errors in the functions didn't seem to be constructive either. Guess that those who did downvote might have felt the same.  The comment trail  Okay. Are You saying that the C++ community downvoted it because they had either no time or no motivation to answer it properly? – Saul 19 mins ago No, I'm saying it might have been downvoted because it wasn't seen as a good question. The lack of comments can be because of limited time. It was in my case. – XXX 15 mins ago Note that if you had asked the question right now, I might have answered it. Six hours ago I had to do some payed work. – XXX 8 mins ago Uh.. why would one want to downvote a question when busy but be willing to answer it later? To communicate that &quot;your question is unwelcome at this time, I am doing paid work, come back later&quot;? In such a scenario there is nothing I can do to make it appear as a good question. - Saul 1 mins ago
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A student has written:     Still, I have already been aware of most of the information even    before watching the video.   It doesn't feel right and I would normally use a past simple here. I'm on my two hundredth script and losing my ability to reason, or to adequately explain to myself why it should be past simple (I think it's 'before' as this puts the time as completed, so he can't use the present perfect notion of unfinished time). What I need to know is:   Should it be simple past of present perfect here, or doesn't it matter?  Why/why not?   All help gratefully received.
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I'm a non-native speaker completely stuck trying to formulate a negative question. Full disclosure: I'd like to use it as a title for a university paper and I could not find any help around.  This is the question/title:     Why did the Industrial Revolution did not occur in China during the Ming/Qing period?   I highlighted the sources of my doubts.  In the title I'd like to ask why the Industrial Revolution (which happened in Britain) did not happen (during the same period) in China.  Should I rather say     Why did the Industrial Revolution not occur in China during the Ming/Qing period?   Thank you in advance  Edit: maybe this question should belong to "english language learners"
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I am trying to understand capitalization rules with Mom and Dad. I believe I have it correct below, but please let me know if I do not.     The one thing I learned from my dad was that it was good to earn the trust of one's children. Dad has shown me how good that a dad can be. One day when I went to his house, and Dad wasn't there, I ran outside....   The above passage is just made-up just so that you would see what I mean about capitalization. Let's put numbers by each one, like so:     The one thing I learned from my dad(1) was that it was good to earn the trust of one's children. Dad(2) has shown me how good that a dad(3) can be. One day when I went to his house, and Dad(4) wasn't there, I ran outside....    This is one where I'm not certain. I believe in this sense I'm showing possession here with "my", and it just didn't seem right saying "my Dad". I don't know what the grammar rule is here, or if I even have it right. This one is obvious—it starts the sentence. In this case, I'm using Dad like a name instead of saying "Larry". Therefore, it should be capitalized. Again, just like 3.
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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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I'm trying to make more sense of how negation effects how a sentence is parsed and understood if and's and or's are used within them.  Pop quiz: You are trapped on a bus with a bomb going 50 MPH. You have a radio... (okay enough Keanu Reeves references) :-)  Let's say the bomb expert says "Don't cut the red or green wires." I think that means "Do not cut the wires colored red. Do not cut the wires colored green."  Now, let's say the bomb expert said on the radio "Do not cut the red and green wires", instead. Do I take that to mean:     "Do not cut the wires colored red. Do not cut the wires colored green."   OR     "Do not cut the wires whose insulation has red and green stripes." ?   OR     "It's okay to cut the wires colored red or the wires colored green, as long I don't cut one of each color."   Which meaning should I take if the radio breaks and I can't ask follow up questions?
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I often see people on the Internet using a comma before and in many cases (not adversative cases). Is it ok? In my language it is stricly prohibited to use a comma before an and except for adversative cases or when an apposition is in the front of that and. Examples (which I consider not ok):  He is a great player, and he prefers to play Counter-Strike. John joined the Army, and George joined the Marines.  What I consider exceptions:  Yes, and what is the problem? I called John, my brother, and now I’m speaking with him.
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Today I heard somebody say:     This (technology) can be the difference between life or death.   And I winced.  While “life or death” can be used as an adjective (e.g., modifying “situation” or “decision”), I believe that “between X or Y” is wrong, because “between” should always be used with “and”. (Or an implied “and” , as in “between jobs”.)  Is “between X or Y” ever acceptable?
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Not being a native speaker and suffering semantic satiation from overthinking this, I'd like to ask this probably overly simple question.     Not once would he...   uses reversal for negation and means "he wouldn't even once..."     Not once he would...   is litotes for "He would frequently..."  Is that correct or did I mess up? If I did mess up, how to correctly express the two meanings?
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We agree with positive statements using so-too:       I have a red car.   (Sara) So does Sara   But with the negative statements we use neither-either:     I don't have a brother.   (Jhon) Neither does Jhon   So I can say that the most important thing before giving your agreement is to know whether the sentence is positive or negative and then to agree as I did in the examples above. But these sentences let me think many times:       I have nothing to do.   (I) so do I         or   Neither do I     So the question is: Should I consider the last sentence positive or negative? Look at this sentence too:     The boy is impolite (It means that the boy is not polite)   (girl) so is the girl   or   Neither is the girl     I mean if there's a prefix (which changes the word to the opposite), then the sentence will be negative in meaning so either or neither is used?
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When speaking with my mother a couple of days ago, I read to her a message I was sending to my cousin on her behalf ending with: "... the birthday of your youngest." [implying her child]  She immediately leapt on this and said that as my cousin only had two children, the use of the superlative was not permitted and the comparative must be used instead: "... the birthday of your younger child."  She was adamant that this was a solid grammatical rule that she was taught throughout her education.  As a younger Briton, I have relatively little formal grammatical education to older people who were better taught in this regard, so I usually defer to her on grammatical rule knowledge.  Is she right?  Are superlatives not permitted when the domain of the object is only two?  To me it seems bizarre.  The minimum or maximum of any set does not only exist when there are different minima and maxima, or indeed something which is neither.
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When I think of double negatives I think of phrases that grate on the ears, like:  I'm not going to do no homework. I'm never going to not go visit Graceland.  There are some phrases that appear to technically be considered a double negative, but seem more common and are, in my opinion, actually pleasing to the ear. And I've seen such uses in newspaper articles, magazine articles, and other edited content. I'm referring to phrases like:  It's not uncommon for two people to meet serendipitously. Baseball is not unlike golf - both are boring to watch without a beer in hand. It's not unusual to be loved by anyone.  Are the above examples of double negatives? Should their use be avoided?
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Which is correct?     There are no comments.  There is no comment.   Which would you use for a web application, i.e. what to display when a blog post or an article has no comment attached?    Actually, I am trying to fix an application that says: "There is no comments"! Would that ever be right?  More generally speaking, it feels wrong to have a plural after the negative no/none or with the preposition without (see my previous question ).  Those words imply zero, i.e. less than one, while plural is two or more. Yet, I know that phrases like "There are no comments" or "He is without friends" are common. It seems illogical to me.   Are the majority of people making a grammar mistake when using such expressions, or else can you explain why this is correct?
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Example:     When my mother came back from the island, she came back as a newborn Christian. [...]   was shocked, especially since none of them belonged to that religion.   (In this case, they refer to the mother's parents/brothers/sisters, and also the husband's parents/brothers/sisters. Not the husband because he was dead. And not the speaker because he was still a baby. So there's no immediate family.)  What would a native English speaker use in cases like this? Her family, my family, our family, or my relatives?