Why is "I didn't mean to, not miss it" incorrect?

I know someone who initially typed the phrase, "I didn't mean to not miss it." After I pointed out that this had a double negative, he corrected this to "I didn't mean to, not miss it"

I believe this second phrase is both grammatically incorrect and conveys the incorrect meaning. I'm not sure how to explain the incorrectness of the phrase. Could someone help?

Solution 1:

The Purdue link link you cite in comments to your question isn't the final word on commas. However, your friend's quote could possibly fit item 7 in that list ("separate contrasted coordinate elements").

The expanded, non-negated form is more common:

• He meant to watch it, not miss it.

In response to a question such as "Did he watch it?", an ellipsed version might work:

• He meant to, not miss it.

Your friend's negated, ellipsed variant (containing a comma) is arguably of the same pattern, though it takes more effort to parse it. This is not to say your friend's sentence is idiomatic, only that it is not necessarily ungrammatical.

Alternatively, your friend could be providing more information, as in the second example of item 7 of your list:

• The chimpanzee seemed reflective, almost human.

Under this interpretation, your friend would first be saying that they "didn't mean to" do whatever it was they were denying. The part after the comma elaborates on what they didn't mean to do: they didn't mean to "miss it". This phrasing sounds colloquial.

Grammar is a low bar to cross; there are often weird and quirky interpretations that pull seemingly-ungrammatical sentences back into acceptability.

Regarding your second point, you've provided insufficient information for us to determine whether your friend's phrasing "conveys the incorrect meaning". If we don't know the meaning intended, we can't know whether any specific phrasing conveys it.