Know your negatives

A yellow traffic sign that warns against making the grammatical error of using double negatives
No double negatives warning sign

Common negative words

Generally we think of negative words as “no”, “not” and other words formed with  “no” such as “nobody” and “nothing”.

“Not” is the most common word we use to make a statement or an expression negative. We just attach “not” to a helping or auxiliary verb and it gives a negative meaning to the verb and to the sentence. Instead of “not” you can use the contraction of not which is “n’t”. This is added to a helping or auxiliary verb to form the negative.

Example: If we add “not” or “n’t” to “have” we get “have not” and “haven’t”.

To make “have eaten” negative we would use “have not eaten” or  “haven’t eaten”.

I was fishing in the river.

Negative – I was not fishing in the river.

                      I wasn’t fishing in the river.

Another common negative word is “no”. It is often a very emphatic indication of the negative.

“Are you going to the concert?”

No I am staying home instead.

You can also use it in rules or notices. No swimming is allowed near the pier.

Double negatives

One rule to remember is that you cannot use two negatives in the same clause. This error is the use of a double negative. Look at these sentences.

No one can’t tell me what to do.”  

I won’t do nothing to stop him from entering the race. They are both incorrect. They show the use of a double negative. In the first sentence the word “no” is negative and the word “can’t” is also negative.  In the second sentence the word “nothing” is negative and “won’t” is also negative.i

These words are negative too

Some words do not look negative but are negative in meaning and usage. These words are” hardly”, “scarcely” and “barely”. These are negative adverbs. 

According to the Cambridge Dictionary the words are defined as follows:

scarcely means… only just; not,  

hardly means…  only just; certainly not

and barely means …by the smallest amount; only just.

These sentences below show the negative meanings of “hardly”.

Hardly anyone attended the meeting. This means that not many persons attended.

I hardly ever get a cold.  This is means the same as – I do not get a cold often.

Because these words are negative you should not use them with other negative words or you would be making the mistake of using a double negative. Look at these sentences. “I can hardly wait for my vacation.” This is correct.  However this next sentence is not correct. “I can’t hardly wait for my vacation.” This is an example of using a double negative. “Can’t” is negative and “hardly” is negative.

You should also avoid using another negative word with “scarcely” and “barely”.

It is correct to say, “I can scarcely squeeze into these jeans.”  But it is incorrect to say

“I can’t scarcely squeeze into these jeans.”

 Or “I did not barely understand the instructions”. In both cases you would be using a double negative.

Position of hardly when indicating time

When you use “hardly” to indicate the timing of an action you should begin the sentence with “hardly” and invert the subject and verb and use “when” in the clause describing a second action.

Example:

Hardly had I entered the house when the storm broke.

Hardly…… inverted subject and verb…..when

You begin the sentence with hardly and instead of saying I had you invert that to had I and then use when to show the timing of the second action.  This construction shows that one action followed immediately after another. In the example sentence this construction shows that the storm followed immediately after the person entered the house.

You use the same construction if using “scarcely” to indicate the timing of an event. Begin with “scarcely”, invert subject and verb and use “when” in the clause following. Scarcely had I fallen asleep when the fire alarm sounded.

Position of hardly in other sentences

In other sentences “hardly” is usually placed midway between the subject and the main verb. I hardly take that route to go to school. The subject is “I” and the main verb is “take”. Notice that “hardly” is positioned between them.  

 “Scarcely” is used in the same way. Tim scarcely makes a living from growing corn.

“Tim” is the subject and “makes” is the verb. Notice the position of “scarcely” midway between them.

I barely managed to meet the deadline for entering the competition. In this sentence “barely” is placed between the subject “I” and the main verb “managed”.

Rules to remember

 The main rules to remember when using these negative adverbs are:

Do not use another negative word in the same clause or you will make the grammatical error of using a double negative.

In sentences indicating timing of events, when you use the construction “Hardly  (followed by inverted subject and verb) this is followed by “when”.

“Hardly……..when”

Now go ahead and use your negative words with confidence.

How subjects and verbs agree even with words between them

Avoid long sentences

One of the reasons why people make mistakes of agreement is that they use long sentences. It is more noticeable in speech than in writing. Often you can hear a speaker getting carried away with making a point. But the speaker adds so many phrases and clauses to the sentence that the subject is forgotten.

No matter how many phrases you use, one rule of agreement is that intervening phrases do not change the number of the verb. An intervening phrase is one that comes between the subject and the verb.         

Example: The birds in the pond search for food.                                                                                         

The phrase in the pond comes between the subject birds and the verb search. Another way to express this rule is that words coming after the subject do not change its number.A clause can also come between the subject and the verb.

Example: The headmaster who trained the lions has run away with the circus.

The clause, who trained the lions comes between the subject headmaster and the verb has.

When we speak and write we often add phrases and clauses to the subject to describe it or add some quality to it.  Some persons get carried away with the description they have made and they forget what is the subject.

Take a look at the sentence below.

The lizard, sitting on the rock among the plants, is sunning itself.

Lizard is the subject. It is followed by two phrases sitting on the rock and among the plants. These phrases though adding to the subject to expand its meaning do not change the number of the subject. The lizard is still singular. It is only one lizard so the verb should be singular and we use the verb is. W

When one noun is singular and the other is plural

What may cause confusion is when the noun in the phrase or clause is different in number to the subject. In the example sentence above we have lizard as the subject and this is singular. In the phrases following we have another noun rock that is singular too. In addition we have plants that is plural. That noun is a different number to the subject and it comes just before we have to choose a verb to complete the sentence. Because the word plants is the last noun spoken or written before the verb, persons tend to make the verb agree with it. This is incorrect. 

Don’t lose sight of your subject

When you string together lots of phrases or even a subordinate clause after your subject keep in mind the number of the subject of your sentence.  When another noun in your sentence is plural and the subject is singular be careful. Similarly when the subject is plural and the other noun in a following phrase is singular, be careful as well.  Remember your subject. That is the only word to determine the number of the verb.

It’s a good idea to use shorter sentences. If you have to use a long sentence do not lose sight of your subject. Remember that your verb has to agree with that subject.