Is it proper to say "I earned -1 points today" when I lost 1 point?

Question

Suppose I play a game where I can lose points as well as gain them. Usually I'll say:

I earned 10 points today, hooray!

But what if I lost points and still want to use "optimistic" verb?

I earned -1 points today, bummer

Is this grammatically correct?

The only grammatical issue here is whether -1 demands singular or plural. — Carsten S, Jan 14 '14 at 09:42
@CarstenSchultz good point! -1 is still a single point, only negative. Was it asked before here on this site? :) — Shadow Wizard Love Zelda, Jan 14 '14 at 09:53
Whose answer did you downvote today? Suspicious That's the only way to earn -1 points! — Gigili, Jan 14 '14 at 11:11
@Gigili lol! Actually my motivation was this: http://i.stack.imgur.com/AstQr.png (so yes, I downvoted some answer on the Movies site ;)) — Shadow Wizard Love Zelda, Jan 14 '14 at 11:34

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 14 '14 at 09:15

3

It is grammatically fine. There is no rule of grammar that says you can't earn a negative point. Some may argue it doesn't make logical sense, though I think it's fine logically as well.

answered Jan 14 '14 at 09:15

David Schwartz

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Is it proper to say "I earned -1 points today" when I lost 1 point?

1 Answers1