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Re: double negatives

From:Roger Mills <romilly@...>
Date:Tuesday, October 24, 2000, 4:20
John Cowan wrote:

>Vasiliy Chernov wrote: > >> Also, I've just thought that with a slightly different intonation,
English
>> might allow something like _I've told nothing, to nobody, under no >> circumstances_ - am I wrong? > >This is certainly impossible in the standard dialect, but of course there >are many non-standard dialects where negative concord is used. There >are situations where standard negative-attraction breaks down: >"I haven't said anything" is the idiomatic form, but "I've said nothing" is
not
>incorrect, for example. (Note the subtlety "not incorrect", which is >not the same as "correct".)>
I don't have a problem with these. I have no problem with these. I don't have any money. I have no money. Sama-sama; both quite correct. The ones with _no_ may be a little formal, some might say stilted; maybe more British-- "I've no money" definitely so? Vasiliy's sentence sounds like something one might say in testimony, an emphatic denial e.g of ever discussing any nuclear secrets, with anyone, at any time.