How are these two sentences not negating their premise?


In my JLPT textbook,
[日本語総まとめＮ１読解](http://www.amazon.co.jp/%E6%97%A5%E6%9C%AC%E8%AA%9E%E7%B7%8F%E3%81%BE%E3%81%A8%E3%82%81%EF%BC%AE%EF%BC%91-%E8%AA%AD%E8%A7%A3-%E3%80%8C%E6%97%A5%E6%9C%AC%E8%AA%9E%E8%83%BD%E5%8A%9B%E8%A9%A6%E9%A8%93%E3%80%8D%E5%AF%BE%E7%AD%96-%E4%BD%90%E3%80%85%E6%9C%A8%E4%BB%81%E5%AD%90/dp/4872177657/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1363164140&sr=8-3),
on page17, there are these two sentences (which are both part of a larger
paragraph, but I hope I have included enough):

> 自分{じぶん}なんかにできるわけがないとあきらめる態度{たいど}ほどじれったいものはない
>
> それ以上{いじょう}は望{のぞ}まないというような考{かんが}えの人{ひと}が少{すく}なからずいるのは残念{ざんねん}でならない

A translation for the first sentence is offered in the book, which is, "it is
very frustrating to see people giving up on things even before they start."
There is no translation given for the second sentence, but it is clear from
the lesson it is being offered in that it is saying something like, "it's
disappointing that it's no small number of people that think they won't hope
for more."

Both sentences seem to be asserting something. That it is frustrating that
people give up on things and that the number of people who don't hope is too
many.

But when I read the sentences, they seem to me to be negating those premises
because they end with `ものはない` and `でならない`. My reading of them is "it **isn't**
very frustrating to see people giving up on things even before they start,"
and, "it's **not** disappointing that it's no small number of people that
think they won't hope for more."

Me and the book disagree on whether these sentences are positive or negatve
assertions, but I assume it's me that is mistaken somehow.

How is it that these sentences are not negative, in spite of `ものはない` and
`でならない`?




The key to the first one is in the fact that it all comes down to
～ほどじれったいものはない. It is a negative sentence, but it's not negating the meaning of
the sentence. If we put it into English it means " _There's nothing as
frustrating_ as seeing people give up on things before they start." And that's
if we use the book's translation for the rest of it. The point is that the
speaker is presenting this situation and trying to find something _worse_ than
that, and saying that such a thing doesn't exist. It's like saying "Murder is
bad" vs. "There's nothing as bad as murder." The latter isn't suggesting that
murder is good.

As for the second one I am curious to see how you would parse the meaning of
this since it _seems_ that you're missing the phrase ~てならない, which just that
means something is unbearable, or at least felt very strongly. The fact that
the verb ends in ない doesn't mean we're inverting the meaning of the sentence.
On the contrary in this case it's making the meaning even stronger. So in this
case the speaker is not saying that it's _not_ disappointing but that it's
_unbearably_ or _extremely_ disappointing. Compare this to the phrase ～てたまらない.

See
[here](http://eow.alc.co.jp/search?q=%E3%81%A7%E3%81%AA%E3%82%89%E3%81%AA%E3%81%84&ref=sa)
for examples.




The key to the first one is in the fact that it all comes down to
～ほどじれったいものはない. It is a negative sentence, but it's not negating the meaning of
the sentence. If we put it into English it means " _There's nothing as
frustrating_ as seeing people give up on things before they start." And that's
if we use the book's translation for the rest of it. The point is that the
speaker is presenting this situation and trying to find something _worse_ than
that, and saying that such a thing doesn't exist. It's like saying "Murder is
bad" vs. "There's nothing as bad as murder." The latter isn't suggesting that
murder is good.

As for the second one I am curious to see how you would parse the meaning of
this since it _seems_ that you're missing the phrase ~てならない, which just that
means something is unbearable, or at least felt very strongly. The fact that
the verb ends in ない doesn't mean we're inverting the meaning of the sentence.
On the contrary in this case it's making the meaning even stronger. So in this
case the speaker is not saying that it's _not_ disappointing but that it's
_unbearably_ or _extremely_ disappointing. Compare this to the phrase ～てたまらない.

See
[here](http://eow.alc.co.jp/search?q=%E3%81%A7%E3%81%AA%E3%82%89%E3%81%AA%E3%81%84&ref=sa)
for examples.

