Double negative: Yes to No No

The double negative is considered substandard as it does not do" nothing" good for the English language. It is just a repetition of the negative for emphasis or when there is no intention of having the two negatives cancel each other out. Shakespeare used it quite often as it was common in Old English and Medieval English. George Orwell criticized the"not un..."habit in writers and journalists.


TRANSFORM THE TWO NEGATIVES INTO JUST ONE:

He cannot make friends with nobody

I haven´t never got the time to sit down any more

They didn´t have no apples

I never saw nobody

They didn´t know nothing

I hadn´t never been so tired

I could not travel nowhere

I am not going to buy no car

She didn´t have no motorbike

His clothing wouldn´t be no protection from the rain

 

Inspiration from Eats, Shites & Leaves by A. Parody


Be straightforward; say the following phrases in a more direct manner Avoid the typically English understatement : Litotes:

The thought of death will be not unwelcome. B. Russell
She is not unappealing.
not unstable
not unimportant
It´s not an unjustifiable assumption that
I´m not indifferent
leave no stone unturned
not unsurprisingly
not unemotionally
not untrue
not unlike

Let´s quote  George Orwell: " One can cure oneself of the "not un formation "by memorizing this:
A not unblack dog was chasing a not unsmall rabbit across a not ungreen field  .Politics and the English language . Collected Essays