Is the use of "not" in this sentence correct or not?
Don't communicate until the phone line is not fully secured.
Kindly advise.
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2It doesn't make any sense.– Hot LicksCommented Nov 19, 2019 at 1:56
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Hot Licks ... thank you. Making sense is another thing. I am just trying to see if its use here is correct or incorrect.– QureshiCommented Nov 19, 2019 at 2:03
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It's incorrect because it's incoherent. Syntax does not require coherence, as Chomsky has demonstrated; but correctness, whatever you may think it means, does.– John LawlerCommented Nov 19, 2019 at 2:19
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If one wanted to disseminate misinformation, and the line was fully secured, these instruction would make sense.– DavoCommented Nov 19, 2019 at 2:37
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1 Answer
Well, you have a double negation in your sentence, so you're basically saying "wait for the phone line to be unsecure/unsafe, and then start communicating". From a grammatical standpoint, that sentence is 100% correct; there's nothing wrong with it. But, that's probably not what you meant to say (who would want to communicate over a dangerous, unsecure phone connection?). What you probably meant was, "wait for the phone line to be secure, and then start communicating". In that case, you would write:
Don't communicate until the phone line is fully secured.
EDIT: changed "insecure" to "unsecure"
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@Davo you are correct. It should be "unsecure" instead of "insecure". Commented Nov 19, 2019 at 5:28
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