Avoid negating with the word not. Avoid this kind of negation unless, of course, you are Harold M. Best, former dean of Wheaton Conservatory, trying to explain how humans “were created continuously outpouring” worship whether they want to or not through the phrase “nobody does not worship.”[1] But even Best recognized the difficulty of his double negative and the wisdom of avoiding not when possible, titling his insightful book Unceasing Worship rather than Worship That Doesn’t Quit.
So why not not?
Assertions Help Us Picture the Words
Authors often use the word not as an evasive, noncommittal expression, stating what someone or something fails to do rather than expressing the negative action a person does. William Strunk, Jr. and E.B. White in The Elements of Style write, “Consciously or unconsciously, the reader is dissatisfied with being told only what is not; the reader wishes to be told what is. Hence, as a rule, it is better to express even a negative in positive form.”[2]
Assertions help us picture the meaning of words. We have a harder time picturing the negation of an action or description than the assertion of an action or description. If the man did not go to church, what did he do instead? Stay home? Sleep? Visit a friend? The word not creates too much chance for ambiguity and misunderstanding. It also can indicate a lack of clear, deep thinking or vocabulary. If I create a character and think only that he did not go to church, I have neither defined his character or action in the way that The man stayed home from church that day or The man never went to church does.
If I tell my children, “Don’t idolize your phones,” I have given instruction but left the application of that instruction entirely up to them. Instead, I could say, “Turn your phones off. Leave margin for human connection. Fill empty moments with prayer rather than entertainment.” All three assertions give my children ways to avoid idolizing their phones. They now know what to do and what I expect.
Not Gets Lost
As we read, the word not often gets lost. We have all been guilty from time to time of missing words or seeing nonexistent words as though they exist. This function of language and human perception necessitates my profession of editing. Our minds fill in the gaps and see what we expect to see. Proofreaders employ all kinds of tricks to force their brains to see what marks actually fill the page.
Our readers never read so carefully. They might easily skip over the small word not before a verb and think the person or object did the very action the author intended to deny. This misreading creates confusion that will at some point pull the readers out of the topic or story and force them to go back and reassess what was written.
One way to use not and make sure it gets read is to juxtapose negative and positive statements such as John F. Kennedy’s famous line, “Ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country.” The structure of this sentence highlights the word not rather than allowing the reader to skate over it.
When a Negative Word Asserts
Unlike not, other negative words actually make strong assertions. “Never use not,” while misconstruing my instructions, certainly makes a strong assertion, just as “Nobody is honest” makes a similar assertion to “All are dishonest” and a stronger assertion than “All are not honest.” (What are they, then? Any quality could fill that gap: They are sly. They are confused. Or even, Some are honest.)
Consider the strength of these verses from the book of Romans, quoting from the Psalms:
None is righteous, no, not one;
no one understands;
no one seeks for God.
All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
no one does good,
not even one. (Romans 3:10–12 ESV)
None and no are strong assertions, making the first not emphatic. In the middle, the author asserts the negative actions, “turned aside” and “become worthless” in positive form rather than negative (e.g., they are not worthy). And throughout, the repetition of no one builds, emphasizing what the author wants to say—not that humans have a problem when it comes to seeking God, but that no humans at all seek God. Having made his point clear with strong negative words, he again asserts the utter lack of human beings moving positively on their own toward God, this time using not to do so. In this case, in context, not even one asserts a strong, clear, picturable concept despite the use of not.
The Tie-Up
When you first work on untying all the nots from your writing, you might find your sentences unraveling. Keep at it. Soon you will start thinking more clearly with assertions and plenty of “un—” and “dis—” words and strong verbs that keep your readers roped into your story or topic. Remember to be positive even when you’re writing negatives. Make assertions. Steer clear of the weak not.
Notes
Harold M. Best, Unceasing Worship: Biblical Perspectives on Worship and the Arts (Downers Grove, Ill: InterVarsity Press, 2003), 23.
William Strunk, Jr., and E. B. White, The Elements of Style, 4th ed. (Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 2000), 20.