A question regarding the phrasing in the LR Bible on pg. 515

[mrcheese]

The book says in the second paragraph from the bottom of the page, "Do you feel it is possible that none of the candidates would not vote to increase taxes?"

It acknowledges that this is a difficult sentence to have readers in a survey be asked and then rephrases it in more common language, "Do you feel that is possible that all of the candidates would vote to increase taxes?"

I feel like the "all" in the second sentence would be better suited to be "some." I looked this question up and someone in another forum (different website) was asking about the question and the staff member (I think it was a staff member) made an authoritative statement saying, "All is not the opposite of none in that sentence, it is "some.""

I was wondering what the powerscore team's thought is on it. Obviously, "some" does include "all" but maybe "some" is the better answer since "all" does not include the possibility of "some."

I love the LR Bible and am beginning the workbooks soon. I have been studying for a little over a month now and was going to take the September Exam, but I might just wait and take the December exam XD. I want to try for a really high score. 3 months to do it might be a little too hard for me to obtain the dream.

[Malila Robinson]

Hi mrcheese,
There is a grammatical rule in the English language that states that in some instances a double negative will result in a positive. With that rule in mind this is not an instance where you are simply negating none, which would in fact negate to some. In this case you are looking at the double negative in the original statement: "...none of the candidates would not vote..." In that case if none of them are voting "no" to an increase in taxes, then that would mean that 'all of the candidates are voting to increase taxes'.
Hope that helps!
-Malila

[mrcheese]

In the case of double negatives choose the opposite and not just the negation? It makes sense and it is easy if that is the case. It would be a definite answer.

[Jonathan Evans]

Hi, MrCheese,

The construction "Nobody does not do [X]" does mean "Everybody does [X]."

I don't feel comfortable making a blanket generalization about using the polar opposite for every double negative construction. I would treat these on a case-by-case basis.

Remember that you are not negating the statement, and the presence of two negatives in a statement doesn't mean that one of them negates the other. Your goal here is to understand what the statement already says.

"No customer doesn't order my french fries!" doesn't mean "someone orders my french fries"; it means "everyone orders my french fries!" The "no customer" and "doesn't order" do not negate each other.

Does this make sense?

[mrcheese]

I just read it. Yes, it makes sense.