Please explain this double negative sentence
Lettie had never yet failed to return from town without some special treat for him.

In my view, 'never', 'failed' and 'without' are negation words in this sentense. I seemed 'never ... failed' as 'succeed'. Then I interpreted it as 'Lettie had never taken any special treat for him'. But the meaning is exactly the opposite. Can you explain? Thanks in advance.

Question

Please explain this double negative sentence
Lettie had never yet failed to return from town without some special treat for him.

In my view, 'never', 'failed' and 'without' are negation words in this sentense. I seemed 'never ... failed' as 'succeed'. Then I interpreted it as 'Lettie had never taken any special treat for him'. But the meaning is exactly the opposite. Can you explain? Thanks in advance.

Answer

Hi,

"Never failed" means Lettie has always returned with a special treat. The confusion in translation could be because of the word "without" which can mean you do not have something.

Another way of saying this sentence could be... "Lettie has always returned from town with some special treat for him".

Hope this helps :)

Answer

You're quite right, this is a poorly written, awkward sentence. "Failed" is not a negating word though, it is a past tense form of the verb "fail."  Unlike "never" and "without," which are easily replaced by saying, "Lettie always brought a treat."

This sentence is written a bit poetically, or artistically, which are not the most proper forms of english, but to a person with strong English, they are interesting to read.

Answers · 4

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