Мартин Иден

Chapter 7

           "Well,then,yousay,‘Youwas’;itshouldbe,‘Youwere.Yousay‘Iseen’for‘Isaw. Youusethedoublenegative ""What’sthedoublenegative?"hedemanded; thenaddedhumbly,"Yousee,Idon’tevenunderstandyourexplanations." 

           "I’mafraidIdidn’texplainthat,"shesmiled. "Adoublenegativeisletmeseewell,yousay,‘neverhelpednobody.’‘Never’isanegative.‘Nobody’isanothernegative.Itisarulethattwonegativesmakeapositive.‘Neverhelpednobody’meansthat,nothelpingnobody,theymusthavehelpedsomebody." 

           "That’sprettyclear,"hesaid. "Ineverthoughtofitbefore. Butitdon’tmeantheymusthavehelpedsomebody,doesit?Seemstomethat‘neverhelpednobody’justnaturallyfailstosaywhetherornottheyhelpedsomebody. Ineverthoughtofitbefore,andI’llneversayitagain." 

           Shewaspleasedandsurprisedwiththequicknessandsuretyofhismind. Assoonashehadgottheclewhenotonlyunderstoodbutcorrectedhererror. 

           "You’llfinditallinthegrammar,"shewenton. "There’ssomethingelseInoticedinyourspeech. Yousay‘don’t’whenyoushouldn’t.‘Don’t’isacontractionandstandsfortwowords. Doyouknowthem?" 

           Hethoughtamoment,thenanswered,"‘Donot.’" 

           Shenoddedherhead,andsaid,"Andyouuse‘don’t’whenyoumean‘doesnot.’" 

           Hewaspuzzledoverthis,anddidnotgetitsoquickly. 

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