By Negations, American English

I am trying to formulate guidelines for learners of English as a foreign language with regards the use of may/might/could to express possibility. It seems to me that you can use these three modals (almost) interchangeably when expressing possibility. For example, 'Where's Mary?' 'I'm not sure....

I will sometimes use a double negative to be humorous, but only with people who realize that I know better. One of my favorites (for "I don't care") is, "It don't make me no never-mind".

Hi This sounds good. Thanks for your quick reply.

Hi Kunal, Welcome to the forums! It's non-standard. I don't know why people do it, but it's wrong. Well, I do know why they do it - they seem to think it adds emphasis. A simple "I don't want a partner" is not very strong. "I don't want no stinking parner!" is pretty emphatic. To use "I don't...

Hi There Can you please help me with the below confusions I have? Sentences like : "I don't want no partner" , "It ain't no lie" have double negations I think they should be like "I don't want any partner" and "It ain't a lie" I don't know why double negations are being used and whether...

CalifJim wrote:Why must expresses epistemic modality -- it must be the mailman, and must not carries only deontic modalityNot to spoil the argument you're making here, but to clarify a tangential matter: This is not true for American English, which allows the following:-- Janette is not eating...

OK. I see what you mean. you may becomes may you. Sentences from this group are rarely used in ordinary conversation. It is more typical of formal written greetings. In the examples of the "Exclamations" group, another less used category, it appears that the inversion occurs because of...

Hmm. Let me rethink how that "rule" has to be stated. I'm trying to say this: Could I have some more cake? No, you can't. *No, you couldn't. I suppose the "negation" thing doesn't work, does it? Good catch! CJ

CalifJim wrote:Hela,The use of "could" to mean "can"* is not possible in that context - an "assertive" context.The use of "could" to mean "can"* in such contexts is restricted to "non-assertive" contexts, e.g., negations and questions.CJ*which, in turn, is being used to mean "may", (the "may" of...

Hela, The use of "could" to mean "can"* is not possible in that context - an "assertive" context. The use of "could" to mean "can"* in such contexts is restricted to "non-assertive" contexts, e.g., negations and questions. CJ *which, in turn, is being used to mean "may", (the "may"...