Proofreading Service - Pain in the English
Proofreading Service - Pain in the English

Your Pain Is Our Pleasure

24-Hour Proofreading Service—We proofread your Google Docs or Microsoft Word files. We hate grammatical errors with a passion. Learn More

Proofreading Service - Pain in the English
Proofreading Service - Pain in the English

Your Pain Is Our Pleasure

24-Hour Proofreading Service—We proofread your Google Docs or Microsoft Word files. We hate grammatical errors with a passion. Learn More

"badly miscalculated" — double negatives?

I was taught that one should never use double negatives. But I was also taught that if you do, it can have the opposite meaning.

Example: The box does not contain nothing.

means: The box contains something.

So I heard the President’s speech. Note that he was not the first person to say it because I have also heard several newsmen use a similar expression. When I heard it, it sounded wrong.  But I could NOT put my finger on why it sounded wrong. Then suddenly it occurred to me, a double negative!

So here is what I heard...

“Putin badly miscalculated.” or

“He badly miscalculated.”

Since bad is the negative of good and the prefix “mis” makes calculated negative, isn’t this a double negative? I know what they mean. Shouldn’t this sentence be written like so?

“He severely miscalculated.”

Since severe is neither negative nor positive. It just indicates the degree of something.

Submit Your Comment

or fill in the name and email fields below:

Comments

I agree a double negative is a positive. Acceptable exception being when being said clearly as slang or for emphasis.

You make a point I've never considered. Strictly speaking, you're correct: to "badly miscalculate" is to do so "poorly", and therefore, "not to miscalculate at all", or "not to miscalculate so severely". However, the word "badly" is used so often from a young age, I think, no one would ever criticize you for using it in place of "severely", which, as you say, is one of degree.

GrammarTraditionalistButNotPurist Aug-04-2022

1 vote   Permalink   Report Abuse

Despite what purist grammarians may prescribe, double negatives are widely used and understood as negatives in everyday speech; if someone tells us "I ain't got no money", we all understand that they are claiming to be broke. In the case of "badly miscalculated", I would take "badly" as an intensifier, just as "severely" would be.

user111981 May-17-2023

2 votes   Permalink   Report Abuse

Do you have a question? Submit your question here