LanguageTool Community

<< return to list of rules

Rule "Double negative (e.g., 'not... nothing' instead of 'not... anything')"

This is one of many errors that LanguageTool can detect. Visit the LanguageTool homepage to use it online or download it for free.

Description: Double negative (e.g., 'not... nothing' instead of 'not... anything')
Message: This phrase contains a double negative, or a comma may be missing.
Category: Grammar (ID: GRAMMAR)
Link: https://languagetool.org/insights/post/double-negatives/
Incorrect sentences
that this rule can detect:
  • There wasn't nobody there.
    Correction suggestion: anybody, , nobody
  • There wasn't nowhere where we could find red chili paste.
    Correction suggestion: anywhere, , nowhere
Correct sentences
for comparison:
  • As an example, i was looking into why my HSM100 wasn't working reading all the threads on it- there are a couple where people were complaining about how the device “only report motion” and not no motion.
  • Shen Hui also states that true emptiness is not nothing, but it is a "Subtle Existence" (miao-yu), which is just "Great Prajña.
  • i am not able to install terminal_plus package.every time i tried to install it got failed.i don't no why
  • Harmonium debuted outside the top 20 on the US Billboard 200, and sales fell considerably short of those of Carlton's debut album, Be Not Nobody (2002).
  • However, Hegel interprets not-A as not existing at all, not nothing at all, which cannot be conceived, but indeterminate or "pure" being without particularity or specificity.
  • There ain't nobody there.
Pattern: Show XML · Show in Rule Editor
Check the following text against just this rule:

ID: DOUBLE_NEGATIVE [16]
Version: 6.5-SNAPSHOT (2024-04-24 22:33:07 +0200)