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Negation Use


Nukora

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Word hates me. A double negative doesn't always simply mean a positive. Sometimes it has an emphatic meaning or something like that. Ex. 'I left a note in her locker, using a magnet of mine so she couldn’t possibly not see it.' It demonstrates the inability to not see it, not simply that she could see it.

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"not see it" could easily be the verb+pronoun "miss it", which sounds much less awkward.

What he said, though to some degree, I do agree with you.

 

The Argetlam

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I've always found that double negatives imply a sense of undecided-ness or more possibilities as to what could happen if it's in a story.

 

Examples:

 

"He saw it."

It's definite that he saw it, no doubt in the sentence.

 

However...

 

"He didn't not see it."

It's not certain that he saw it, but it's not certain that he didn't either.

 

Okay, not the best example. But applying the descriptions to other examples should work well most of the time.

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I agree with you about the being verbs and most action verbs, Majikthise, but it's totally different with "to be able to".

 

"She couldn't not see it" means she absolutely had to see it, whereas "She could see it" means she might see it, but not necessarily. It's more of the reverse as with the other verbs.

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