TALKING ABOUT STYLE

Speakers of English sometimes use more than one negative at a time (I can’t hardly see you). Multiple negatives, in fact, have a long history in English and can be found in the works of Chaucer and Shakespeare. It was only in the eighteenth century, in an effort to make English more uniform, that double negatives came to be seen as incorrect. Emphatic double negatives—and triple, quadruple, and more—are used in many varieties of spoken English (Don’t none of you know nothing at all).

Even though multiple negatives occur in many varieties of English (and in many other languages), in academic or professional writing you will play it safe if you avoid them—unless you are quoting dialogue or creating a special effect.