When I wrote a column two weeks ago cautioning against the wrong use of double negatives, Forum member Gerry T. Galacio asked: “How do we differentiate between the double negative and the figure of speech known as “litotes”?
I replied that double negative is a statement using two negatives that cancel each other, thus creating a positive statement; on the other hand, litotes is a rhetorical form of emphasis in which a statement is expressed by denying its opposite.
Both the double negative and litotes aren’t in themselves ungrammatical or illogical; they become so only when people who don’t know how these language devices work negate them unknowingly, making them wrongly positive or affirmative instead.
A case in point of a perfectly valid double-negative statement, as I presented in my column that I referred to earlier, is this sentence: “
Scarcely any structure in Tacloban
was left unscathed by Typhoon Yolanda.”
Note how the negative adverb “scarcely” validly negates the negative adverbial phrase “was left unscathed” to yield the same sense as that of this positive statement: “Practically all structures in Tacloban were damaged by Typhoon Yolanda.”
IMAGE CREDIT: TEACHERSPAYTEACHERS.COMBut when you make the mistake of negating this positive statement by inserting the negator “not” before the verb “damaged,” as in “
Practically all structures in Tacloban
were not damaged by Typhoon Yolanda,” you produce a wrong double negative that’s seriously violative or unfaithful to the original sense you wanted to convey.
As to litotes, a perfectly valid grammatical example is this statement, “No issue is too big or too small not to affect you.” It rhetorically emphasizes its premise by using a “not” to deny its opposite, which as you can see is expressed by the double negative “no issue is too big or too small.”
IMAGE CREDIT: FITYCLUB.COMBut in 2009, for the closing spiel of the news analysis segment of her TV talk-show in the now defunct “News on Q,” a newspaper columnist blithely overlooked or forgot to insert the negator “not” in her use of the litotes presented above.
Thus, for many weeks running, that TV talk-show’s voice would glibly intone this wrong, self-canceling, and nonsensical litotes to wrap up her TV program: “Remember, no issue is too big or too small to affect you,” with no one noticing the glaring and monumental grammar and semantic boo-boo.
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Forum member Ian Rivera wrote me on Facebook last weekend through Messenger: “I am a member of your Forum and it is your grammar lectures that I consult every time I am confused. I'd like to give a suggestion. Why don’t you create a YouTube channel? That’s the trend now aside from using Facebook. More power to you sir!”
My reply to Ian:I greatly appreciate your compliment about my English grammar essays and online postings, Ian, and I’m truly gratified to know that you find them helpful. As to your suggestion that I come up with a YouTube show for them, I had actually given it some thought since that medium came out in 2005. But my immediate family, especially my loving wife Elean, don’t think I’m telegenic enough for it, adding that the fact that I’m getting on in years—plus the reality that I now sport a hideous mustache and beard because my barber won’t cut them nor even touch my head with a 10-foot pole while the Covid-19 pandemic still rages—might just turn away my readers and fans in disappointment.
So I’m really left with no choice but the buck the YouTube idea. Lastly, Ian, just wish me all the best if you will but
“Please don’t wish me ‘More power!’”. To know why, click that link to read a 2009 essay of mine that precisely has that title.
Have a great and safe week ahead!
This essay online in
The Manila Times:
How litotes and the double negative differ
