Two Wrongs Don’t Make a Right

In English, we have an expression that two wrongs don’t make a right. This means that just because someone does something bad to you, you shouldn't also do something bad to them too. Revenge doesn’t solve the problem.

Apart from no and not, there are other words with negative connotations, such as barely, hardly and never. Although it may be common in other languages, in English grammar, you shouldn’t use two negatives together. Like in math, two negatives make a positive. And that can cause some confusion.

You see, if you want to say not very often, you might say hardly never, when you are actually saying almost always. Instead, you should say hardly ever.

Here are some other confusing examples:

I never see nobody means I always see somebody.

You didn’t hear nothing means you heard something.

She hardly goes nowhere means she sometimes go somewhere.

To avoid this from occurring, we use any in negative phrases

I never see anybody

You didn’t hear anybody.

She hardly goes anywhere.

This doesn't make no sense, does it?!