Double Negatives Are a NoNo 5 th Mrs

Double Negatives Are a No-No! 5 th Mrs. Davis’ Grade Language Arts Classes

What are Negatives? Ú Negatives are words that mean NO, NOT, NONE, or NOT VERY MUCH/MANY. Ú For example: no, not, nobody, no one, nothing, nowhere, never, didn’t, doesn’t (and any other contraction that uses -n’t, which means NOT) Ú Be extra careful of these words that also are negatives: barely, hardly, scarcely

So What are DOUBLE Negatives? Ú A double negative is the use of 2 negatives to express 1 idea, and it’s a BAD idea to do that!

Can You Spot the Double Negatives? Ú He doesn’t know no one. Ú I don’t have nothing. Ú I didn’t hardly notice you there. Ú She doesn’t never come with us. Ú You didn’t barely finish your work. Ú He could not find nowhere to eat.

Can You Fix the Double Negatives? To correct a double negative, change or remove one of the negative words: No-no: He doesn’t know no one. Yes: He doesn’t know anyone. (changed no one to anyone) Yes: He knows no one. (removed doesn’t)

Can You Fix the Double Negatives? No-no: I don’t have nothing. Yes: I don’t have anything. (changed nothing to anything) Yes: I have nothing. (removed don’t)

Can You Fix the Double Negatives? No-no: I didn’t hardly notice you there. Yes: I didn’t notice you there. (removed hardly) Yes: I hardly noticed you there. (removed didn’t)

Now, Fix These Double Negatives: After you fix them, tell whether you CHANGED (C) or REMOVED (R) a negative to fix it! Ú She doesn’t never come with us. 2. You didn’t barely finish your work. 3. He could not find nowhere to eat. 4. BONUS: There’s nothing I can’t do.

Fixed Double Negatives: 1. She doesn’t ever come with us. (C) She never comes with us. (R) 2. You didn’t finish your work. (R) You barely finished your work. (R) 3. He could find nowhere to eat. (C) He couldn’t find anywhere to eat. (C) 4. BONUS: I can do anything. (C)

Which are Double Negatives? Ú I can’t go because I didn’t finish my homework. Ú She won’t do nothing about his bad grades. Ú We aren’t taking our test, and I’m glad because I’m not ready. Ú I won’t go, and he can’t go. Ú I barely finished my lunch, so I’m not full. Ú He couldn’t stand nothing she said to him.

Which are Double Negatives? Ú I can’t go because I didn’t finish my homework. (NO) Ú She won’t do nothing about his bad grades. (YES) Ú We aren’t taking our test, and I’m glad because I’m not ready. (NO) Ú I won’t go, and he can’t go. (NO) Ú I barely finished my lunch, so I’m not full. (NO) Ú He couldn’t stand nothing she said to him. (YES)

Try This Online Quiz: http: //school. discovery. com/quizzes 28/ aavillanueva/Grammar. html