6

Would you please elaborate your explanations on the reason why the following would be incorrect?

I will no longer use these tools any more

Thanks in advance

ColleenV
  • 11,971
  • 13
  • 47
  • 85
nima
  • 5,817
  • 50
  • 155
  • 250
  • 3
    No longer and anymore are similar in meaning. For that reason one of them is redundant in this sentence. I won't use these tools any more (1) or I will no longer use these tools (2). In the first example you should provide negation. In the second example, no longer itself is sufficient enough for formulating a negative sentence. –  Jun 27 '15 at 17:52
  • 1
    Your sentence sounds okay to me. :) – F.E. Jun 29 '15 at 05:45
  • 1
    Consider usages such as: "I will continue to use these tools some more", where your example is sorta the negative of it. Also, consider context and register as factors. For instance, compare against a rather formal usage of "The company no longer requires your services." In that type of formal termination notice, it might be less likely to have "any more" appended to it at the end--though, it could and it wouldn't be wrong, and some HR person might actually write it with the "any more" appended to the end. This is probably more of a style issue, with context and register also as factors. – F.E. Jun 29 '15 at 21:25

2 Answers2

3

In a negative expression, "any more" and "any longer" are two interchangeable adverbs:

I don't live there any more.
I don't live there any longer.

So, your sentence is equal to this one:

I will no longer use these tools any longer.

I thought obviously the two adverbs modifying the verb "use" seem duplicated.

Both of the following are better:

I will not use these tools any more.
I will no longer use these tools.

Lerner Zhang
  • 3,441
  • 7
  • 30
  • 49
  • I suspect that this is probably a dialectal difference, but -- "I do not care for this author any longer" sounds rather odd to me, though I can't quite put my finger on why. – ruakh Jun 29 '15 at 03:53
  • @ruakh I changed it to an other example. – Lerner Zhang Jun 29 '15 at 04:17
2

The sentence is grammatically correct, but as AmD points out in a comment above, the combination of "no longer" and "any more" (or "anymore") is redundant. Instead, you should use either of these:

  • I will no longer use these tools.
  • I will not [or won't] use these tools anymore.

In casual conversation, the redundancy would probably be fine; but then, the construction "I will no longer use […]" is probably a bit too formal for casual conversation anyway.

ruakh
  • 4,528
  • 19
  • 26