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John, who is shy, rarely talks to nobody at parties.

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Bunuel
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John, who is shy, rarely talks to nobody at parties. [#permalink] New post   03 Sep 2021, 07:00
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A
B
C
D
E

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5% (low)

Question Stats:

91% (00:23) correct 9% (00:25) wrong based on 82 sessions
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John, who is shy, rarely talks to nobody at parties.

A. rarely talks to nobody
B. rarely talks to no one
C. seldom talks to nobody
D. seldom talks to anybody
E. seldom talks to no one
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D
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Bunuel
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Re: John, who is shy, rarely talks to nobody at parties. [#permalink] New post   11 Sep 2021, 07:15
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OFFICIAL EXPLANATION



John, who is shy, rarely talks to nobody at parties.

A. rarely talks to nobody

This answer choice is grammatically incorrect. The use of rarely and nobody in the same clause creates a double negative.


B. rarely talks to no one

This answer choice repeats the original mistake. The use of rarely and no one in the same clause creates a double negative.

Note that nobody and no one mean exactly the same thing and are both negation words.


C. seldom talks to nobody

This answer choice is grammatically incorrect. The use of seldom and nobody in the same clause creates a double negative.

Note that rarely and seldom mean exactly the same thing and are both negation words.


D. seldom talks to anybody

This answer choice corrects the original Double Negative mistake by replacing the negation word nobody with the non-negation word anybody. Replacing rarely with seldom does not change the original meaning because rarely and seldom mean exactly the same thing.


E. seldom talks to no one

This answer choice is grammatically incorrect. The use of seldom and no one in the same clause creates a double negative.

Note that rarely and seldom mean exactly the same thing and are both negation words. The same goes for nobody and no one.
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IanStewart
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John, who is shy, rarely talks to nobody at parties. [#permalink] New post   03 Sep 2021, 07:36
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If John "rarely talked to nobody" then he would usually talk to someone, and that's not what the sentence means if John is shy (and it would be a very awkward way to express things regardless). The only answer that conveys the intended meaning, that John doesn't talk to people very often, is D.
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Re: John, who is shy, rarely talks to nobody at parties. [#permalink] New post   03 Sep 2021, 22:31
Bunuel wrote:
John, who is shy, rarely talks to nobody at parties.


A. rarely talks to nobody
This means he's talking to everybody which distorts the meaning therefore out

B. rarely talks to no one
Similar reasoning as A

C. seldom talks to nobody
Similar resoning as A

D. seldom talks to anybody
This is the intended meaning that he doesn't talk to anybody

E. seldom talks to no one
Similar reasoning as A

Therefore IMO D
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Re: John, who is shy, rarely talks to nobody at parties. [#permalink]
03 Sep 2021, 22:31
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