They Did Not Fight Against God No More

Alan C. Miner

According to Barbara Fowler, to most English-speaking people, the use of a double negative, such as, "You cannot have no candy," grates against the ears and conjures up images of a stern English teacher reproaching students with the axiom, "Two negatives equal a positive!"

However, in Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar it is stated that "Two negatives in the same sentence do not neutralize each other but make the negation the more emphatic."

In the process of restoring words from the Original and Printer's manuscripts of the Book of Mormon we found several instances where a negative word had been deleted or changed to a positive word. Its restoration would result in the offensive grammatical occurrence we call the double negative. One such instance is found in Alma 23:7, "they did not fight against God [no] more."

The restored example points to the Hebrew authorship of the book, and enriches the meaning of this passage. [Barbara Fowler, "Double Negatives in the Book of Mormon? Yes! Yes!," in Recent Book of Mormon Developments, pp. 57-58]

Step by Step Through the Book of Mormon: A Cultural Commentary

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