Re: double negatives

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".)

--
There is / one art                   || John Cowan <jcowan@...>
no more / no less                    || http://www.reutershealth.com
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with art- / lessness                 \\ -- Piet Hein