Negative, Double negative and Affirmative sentences - Grade 8 Assessment

Which of these sentences is an affirmative sentence, meaning it states something as a fact without using negative words?

• My brother doesn't like doing his chores.

• We are going to the skate park this weekend.

• I have never seen that movie.

• There isn't any pizza left.

Answer explanation

An affirmative sentence makes a positive statement. The other options use negative words like 'doesn't,' 'never,' and 'isn't,' making them negative sentences.

True or False: Adding the word 'not' after a verb like 'is' or 'are' will change a sentence from affirmative to negative.

• True

• False

Answer explanation

This is a common way to form a negative sentence. For example, 'She is happy' (affirmative) becomes 'She is not happy' (negative).

Fill in the blank with the word that correctly completes this negative sentence: My teacher said she didn't get ___________ of my emails.

Answer explanation

In negative sentences that use 'not', we typically use the word 'any' instead of 'some' or 'no'. The structure 'not...any' is a standard way to express a complete lack of something.

Your friend says, "I can't find my phone nowhere!" To say this using standard English grammar, which sentence is the best choice?

• I can't find my phone nowhere.

• I can't find my phone anywhere.

• I can find my phone nowhere.

• I can't find nothing on my phone.

Answer explanation

The original sentence has a double negative ('can't' and 'nowhere'). Standard English corrects this by using only one negative word. 'I can't find my phone anywhere' is a correct negative sentence. 'I can find my phone nowhere' is also correct, but 'can't...anywhere' is a more common structure.

True or False: In standard English, the sentence 'He doesn't know nothing about the game' technically means that he *does* know something about the game.

• True

• False

Answer explanation

A double negative, like 'not' and 'nothing', can cancel each other out, creating a positive meaning. While people often use it to mean 'He knows nothing,' its grammatically logical meaning is the opposite.

To make this sentence negative, fill in the blank with the correct word or words: She ___________ go to the party last night because she was sick.

Answer explanation

To make a simple past tense verb negative, we use the helping verb 'didn't' (did not) followed by the base form of the main verb ('go').

Choose the most common and grammatically correct way to change the following affirmative sentence into a negative one: 'He has a new video game.'

• He has not a new video game.

• He no has a new video game.

• He doesn't have a new video game.

• He has never a new video game.

Answer explanation

For most verbs in the simple present, we add 'doesn't' or 'don't' before the base form of the verb to make it negative. 'Has not' is typically used only when 'has' is a helping verb (e.g., 'He has not finished').

To fix the double negative in the sentence 'I don't want no pickles on my burger,' you should replace the word 'no' with the word __________.

Answer explanation

The sentence 'I don't want no pickles' is a double negative. To correct it while keeping 'don't,' we change 'no' to 'any,' creating the standard negative sentence 'I don't want any pickles.'

Imagine you are writing a formal report for your social studies class. Which of these sentences uses negation correctly and is appropriate for your report?

• The explorers couldn't find no gold.

• The explorers didn't find any gold.

• The explorers found no gold.

• Both B and C are correct and appropriate.

Answer explanation

Option A is a double negative and incorrect for formal writing. Options B and C are both grammatically correct, standard ways of expressing the same negative idea. Both are perfectly fine to use in a formal report.

Your friend says, 'Nobody said nothing about the plan.' To fix this double negative and make it a standard negative sentence that means everyone was silent, you could rewrite it as: 'Nobody said ___________ about the plan.'

Answer explanation

The double negative 'nobody...nothing' is non-standard. To express the intended meaning, you keep one negative ('Nobody') and change the other to an affirmative form ('anything').