I am wondering whether the following sentence contains a double negative:
Contrary to popular belief, home values don’t depend on material alone but rather the efficiency of those materials in combination with the installation from manufacturers.
Does "contrary to" constitute one negative and "don't" another, and taken together do they constitute a double negative?
This sentence would not qualify as a traditional double negative. The introductory statement: "Contrary to popular belief" does not actually negate any part of the sentence.
A quick way to tell is to remove the part in question and see if it alters the meaning: "Home values don’t depend on material alone but rather the efficiency of those materials in combination with the installation from manufacturers." has the same meaning.
Just because a word is negative(like lose bad) and one uses a word like "not" in front of it, doesn't mean it is a double negative. What you said is correct.
This is double negative:
I don't see no double negative in that question.
Indeed, the right way (without double negative) should be :
I don't see any double negative in that question.
But the fact that you add words like "unlike", "contrary to" doesn't make it double negative. So your sentence is ok ;)
