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

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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.

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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

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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

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