A couple of years ago, a teen flick came out Can't Hardly
Wait that starred Jennifer Love Hewitt and Ethan Embry.
While the film was amusing, pulled all the right strings and
made teeny-boppers cheer on, its title is a case of bad
grammar.
Yup, saying, "I can't hardly wait" is bad grammar.
Why?
Because it's a double negative.
Consider this sentence: "I don't want no sympathy from you."
Now, let's assume that the person who said the above
statement really doesn't want any sympathy. But the sentence
implies that what the person doesn't want is no sympathy
which means, he or she wants sympathy. However which way you
look at the sentence, it is grammatically incorrect.
If the person doesn't want any sympathy, he/she should say it
either:
I don't want sympathy from you.
OR
I want no sympathy from you.
The subtle double negatives
Writers and speakers who always strive to write or speak
correct English have less problem on double negatives.
However, some words used in a negative sense are not
recognized as negatives right away. They are sometimes
combined with another negative and form a subtle double
negative.
Here is a list of these subtle negatives:
seldom
but (used as "only">
just
merely
barely
hardly
except
only
scarcely
neither
ever
rarely
nothing
nowhere
And here are examples of the use of double negatives:
1.
Bad grammar:
He can't hardly wait for his present to arrive.
Good grammar:
He can hardly wait for his present to arrive.
2.
Bad grammar:
They didn't hardly have enough food left.
Good grammar:
They hardly have enough food left.
3.
Bad grammar:
She isn't but a homeless little girl.
Good grammar:
She is but a homeless little girl.
4.
Bad grammar:
They seldom ever visit us.
Good grammar:
They seldom visit us.
5.
Bad grammar:
Because of illness, he just merely weighs one hundred
and ten pounds.
Good grammar:
Because of his illness, he weighs merely one hundred and
ten pounds.
Writing activity
Ok, now it's your turn to transform sentences with double
negatives into grammatically correct sentences:
1. You aren't barely old enough to live on your own.
2. Why can't you hardly wait for your parents to pick you up?
3. She was so disappointed because she couldn't go neither.
4. My father had to sell our car because he didn't scarcely
have enough money anymore.
5. I have so much to do that I haven't ever got time to rest.
6. You aren't but a minority.
7. She just merely recalled how poor they used to be.
8. The new accountant hasn't worked here except three months.
9. The blanket didn't barely protect their shivering bodies.
10. Her daughters seldom ever visit her at the hospital.
About the Author
Shery is the author of the exciting new series of
ebooks, SEEDS: Ideas for the Everyday (Non-Fiction) Writer. Visit
http://www.seedsforwriters.com today or send a blank email to
mailto:writebeginnings@followingup.com.