Double Negative??? -- Sorry George

[Citruscide]

This is George's post after he closed Fro's thread... which I don't care about but double negatives (as in the last sentence) are my pet peeve.

C

Froider,

Please accept my apologies if we deactivated your Platinum account prematurely. I put you back into effect and I will leave it in effect until we launch the new features for Platinum members! See this thread:
http://boards.elitefitness.com/foru...threadid=116395

Of course the real reason to become Platinum is to keep us online. We are working hard to improve our operations so we are no longer operating at a loss and so we can stay online for the next seven years and beyond. And the support of members like you will make this possible.

I am locking this thread -- we cannot afford not to. I hope you understand.

 

[BaBa-BooeY]

Exactly what i was thinking

 

[Warik]

I am locking this thread -- we cannot afford not to.

Actually, this isn't a case of double negation. Think of the various ways to arrange the sentence:

1) we cannot afford not to
2) we cannot afford to
3) we can afford not to
4) we can afford to

That's it. None of combinations 2-4 mean the same thing as expression 1. Just because a sentence contains the word "not" twice does not make it a double negation. Ask Microsoft Word for confirmation. =)

However, I must express my deepest disapproval with George's use of a preposition to conclude his sentence. The shame.

(haha, I corrected you beech... imitate that! )

-Warik

 

[Lord_Suston]

Warik it is scary that you know the English language that well. Or maybe the point that you called someone on it....lol

 

[Citruscide]

Re: Re: Double Negative??? -- Sorry George

Actually, this isn't a case of double negation. Think of the various ways to arrange the sentence:

1) we cannot afford not to
2) we cannot afford to
3) we can afford not to
4) we can afford to

That's it. None of combinations 2-4 mean the same thing as expression 1. Just because a sentence contains the word "not" twice does not make it a double negation. Ask Microsoft Word for confirmation. =)

However, I must express my deepest disapproval with George's use of a preposition to conclude his sentence. The shame.

(haha, I corrected you beech... imitate that! )

-Warik

Hmm... we can not afford not to... which means we can afford to. It is kind of like saying "What you are failing to forget"... which actually means "What you are remembering"

Sure, 2-4 don't mean the same thing... but you can say "We cannot afford to leave this post up... simple solution to the double negative which would be a positive...

C

 

[TheProject]

Y'know, I think Warik's right.

we cannot afford not to lock this post, is basically what George is saying.

There may be a cleaner way to do it, but I believe it's grammatically correct.

 

[Code]

It's not a double negative.

A double negative is a self-contradictory statement, which this is not. It is clear that the use of "we can not afford not to" does not contradict itself nor the intent of the message.

I love the MLA!!

 

[ladymacbeth]

yeah, project and warik are right. But it is a dangling participle.

I'm project's yes-man btw...hehe...mad props.

K

 

[ladymacbeth]

yeah, project and warik are right. But it is a dangling participle.

I'm project's yes-man btw...hehe...mad props.

K

Disclaimer: I'm pretty sure it's a dangling participle, so if I'm wrong don't be an assmuncher about it.

Please?

 

[Lord_Suston]

damn i could've use all you guys in high school english, just go to the chat board and type down my paper and have people critique it.... lol