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From: Chris Croughton <chris@keristor.net>
Newsgroups: alt.languages.english
Subject: Re: "but not" vs "and not"
Date: Wed, 7 Dec 2005 14:39:14 +0000
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On 6 Dec 2005 13:54:25 -0800, SwordAngel
<swordangel@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Miss Elaine Eos wrote:
>> In article <1133068302.923279.214520@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com>,
>> "SwordAngel" <swordangel@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> > Hello,
>> > Would anybody know the difference between the correct usage of "but
>> > not" and that of "and not"?
>> >
>> > Which of the following sentence would be more correct, under what
>> > circumstances?
>> >
>> > 1. "I did this but not that."
>> > 2. "I did this and not that."
>> >
>> > This problem has been bugging me since elementary schools, when an
>> > English teacher told me using "but not" in my sentence was wrong and I
>> > failed to capture her explanation.
>>
>> "I did A, but not B" means "I did A, and you might EXPECT that means I
>> went on to do B, but I did not."
>>
>> "I did A, and not B" means, more simply, "I did A, and I did not do B",
>> with not much further implication about expectations.
>>
>
> Hmm...
> So in other words, "I did A, but not B" is more applicable when A and B
> are not mutually exclusive, whereas "I did A and not B" is more
> applicable when A and B are mutually exclusive. Right?
It's more definite than that in the first case. "I did A, but not B"
has an implication that A and B are actually related and would be
expected to both be done ("I washed the knives but not the forks" -- it
would be expected that if one were washed then the other would be as
well). "I did A and not B" does have the implication of mutual
exclusion or at least lack of relation: "I washed the dishes and not the
car".
Chris C
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