What are Double Negatives? When two negative words are present in a sentence, they tend to cancel each other and create a positive meaning, which may not mean the same thing as what you are thinking.
Wrong: The discussion is not going nowhere.
Right: The discussion is going nowhere or The discussion is not going anywhere.
Be careful when words other than no or not express negation.
Wrong: The absence of concentration was noticeably lacking.
Right: The lack of concentration was evident.
Avoid complicated negative constructions.
Poor: I couldn't see how it was not a torture.
Better: I could see that it was a torture.
Note: Neither/ nor does not constitute a double negative. It is more in the spirit of a list of two negative elements.
Neither this nor that...