A few grammar doubts.

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Simi

#401472 Tue, 07 Aug 07 11:45 AM

Nobody's helping? Sad [:(]

Simi

Joined on Thu, Jan 4 2007

Junior Member (80)

My theory is that if you look confident you can pull off anything - even if you have no clue what you're doing. --Jessica Alba

Linguaphile

#401479 Tue, 07 Aug 07 12:31 PM

Simi wrote:
Nobody's helping?

Double negatives are used in informal English and that mostly shows the person tries to look bold.

Sawyer: I give nothing to nobody. (from the TV Show "Lost")

Linguaphile

Joined on Tue, Jul 17 2007

Turkey

Full Member (140)

Negatives

Kooyeen

#401550 Tue, 07 Aug 07 03:26 PM

Hi Simi,
double negatives can have two meanings: negative + negative = positive, or negative + negative = negative.
It all depends on stress and intonation:

- Again, tell me how much money you have...
- I said I don't have no money... (<-- I don't have any money = negative)
- You don't have no money, you liar! Come on, tell me, we need that money, man... (<-- It is not true that you don't have any money = positive)

Those two are pronounced with different intonation and different stress. I'm not sure how to explain it, mainly because I still really suck at sentence stress, but I think in the first "have" and "money" are stressed, in the second "don't" and "no". Smile [:)]

Kooyeen

Joined on Thu, Dec 22 2005

Italy

Senior Member (4,167)

If you don't have a sense of humor already, it's about time you buy one.

Negatives, Intonations

Goodman

#401610 Tue, 07 Aug 07 05:35 PM

Kooyeen wrote:
Hi Simi,
double negatives can have two meanings: negative + negative = positive, or negative + negative = negative.
It all depends on stress and intonation:

- Again, tell me how much money you have...
- I said I don't have no money... (<-- I don't have any money = negative)
- You don't have no money, you liar! Come on, tell me, we need that money, man... (<-- It is not true that you don't have any money = positive)

Those two are pronounced with different intonation and different stress. I'm not sure how to explain it, mainly because I still really suck at sentence stress, but I think in the first "have" and "money" are stressed, in the second "don't" and "no".

I don't have no money.
You don't have no money.

Both expressions above are of ghetto variety. To be grammatically correct, it should be "I don't have any money", or " I have no money".

We use double negative sometimes to illustrate a point. i.e. "It's not uncommon to see people in their 30's begging for money at intersections in this city". This means, it's common.

Goodman

Joined on Mon, Nov 7 2005

Calif. USA

Senior Member (3,247)

The name says it all!

Negatives, Expressions, Intonations

Simi

#401662 Tue, 07 Aug 07 07:16 PM

Kooyeen wrote:
Hi Simi,
double negatives can have two meanings: negative + negative = positive, or negative + negative = negative.
It all depends on stress and intonation:

- Again, tell me how much money you have...
- I said I don't have no money... (<-- I don't have any money = negative)
- You don't have no money, you liar! Come on, tell me, we need that money, man... (<-- It is not true that you don't have any money = positive)

Those two are pronounced with different intonation and different stress. I'm not sure how to explain it, mainly because I still really suck at sentence stress, but I think in the first "have" and "money" are stressed, in the second "don't" and "no".

I am not able to follow you.

Simi

Negatives, Intonations

Kooyeen

#401741 Tue, 07 Aug 07 10:31 PM

What is it that you don't understand, Simi?

"I don't have no money" can mean "I have no money = I don't have any money". This is the usual and common meaning of a double negative, the usual meaning of the double negatives you hear in songs, for example. Examples:
I ain't got no reason to lie = I have no reason to lie = I don't have any reason to lie
You haven't seen nothing = You have seen nothing = You haven't seen anything.

"I don't have no money" can also mean "I have some money, it is not true that I don't have any money", although this use of double negatives is not as common as the above. This would have a different stress and often a different intonation from the other kind of double negative. An example could be this (from a TV series):
Stan: It's about your movie. We don't like "The Passion"
Mel Gibson: What? You can't not like "The Passion", because it's about Jesus Christ! Everybody loves Jesus Christ! (note: the underlined "not" is stressed with the voice)

Kooyeen

Negatives, Intonations

Simi

#401852 Wed, 08 Aug 07 07:08 AM

Kooyeen wrote:
What is it that you don't understand, Simi?

"I don't have no money" can mean "I have no money = I don't have any money". This is the usual and common meaning of a double negative, the usual meaning of the double negatives you hear in songs, for example. Examples:
I ain't got no reason to lie = I have no reason to lie = I don't have any reason to lie
You haven't seen nothing = You have seen nothing = You haven't seen anything.

"I don't have no money" can also mean "I have some money, it is not true that I don't have any money", although this use of double negatives is not as common as the above. This would have a different stress and often a different intonation from the other kind of double negative. An example could be this (from a TV series):
Stan: It's about your movie. We don't like "The Passion"
Mel Gibson: What? You can't not like "The Passion", because it's about Jesus Christ! Everybody loves Jesus Christ! (note: the underlined "not" is stressed with the voice)