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Lionheart Posted 21 years ago
Grammar
'all but [blank]', is it correct?
There is a phrase that has plagued me all of my life. In fact, I've heard it quite alot lately. It goes like this: "Hurrican Rita all but destroyed this tiny parish." I understand through context what the phrase means. It means that the tiny parish was totally destroyed. However, it seems to me that a logical examination of the words would imply the exact opposite. When I see the term "all but" I think this way: all = did everything; but = except. So when someone says "The Green Bay Packers all but destroyed their opponent's offence," I think to myself "Okay, the Packers could have planted a garden, danced a jig, wrote letters to their mothers, or painted their toenails, but they didn't destroy their opponent's offence, becasue, as the sentence says, 'they did everything except destroy their opponent's offence'"
What I want to know is this: Is it a grammatical misappropriation (Like the notorious use of 'I could care less' when what the speaker really means is 'I couldn't care less') or is it correct and I'm missing something? Help!
Thanks in advance.
--Lionheart
What I want to know is this: Is it a grammatical misappropriation (Like the notorious use of 'I could care less' when what the speaker really means is 'I couldn't care less') or is it correct and I'm missing something? Help!
Thanks in advance.
--Lionheart
Top answer
Hi, is it correct and I'm missing something? Yes, I'm afraid you're missing something. " I understand through context what the phrase means.
- Hi, is it correct and I'm missing something?
- Yes, I'm afraid you're missing something.
- " I understand through context what the phrase means.
- It means that the tiny parish was totally destroyed.
- No.
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4 Answers
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Hi,
is it correct and I'm missing something? Yes, I'm afraid you're missing something.
"Hurrican Rita all but destroyed this tiny parish." I understand through context what the phrase means. It means that the tiny parish was totally destroyed. No. It means that it was almost completely destroyed
is it correct and I'm missing something? Yes, I'm afraid you're missing something.
"Hurrican Rita all but destroyed this tiny parish." I understand through context what the phrase means. It means that the tiny parish was totally destroyed. No. It means that it was almost completely destroyed
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Thank you clive. You've cleared up a long-time problem for me. Actually it was my uncle (alarmingly he was a teacher!) who told me that 'all but' meant 'completely' rather than 'almost completely'. That's what I get for asking a music teacher about English!
If I may, I'd like to go a bit further into this subject. My confusion over the logic behind the words is still there. Regardl
If I may, I'd like to go a bit further into this subject. My confusion over the logic behind the words is still there. Regardl
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Hi again,
That's what I get for asking a music teacher about English! Well, I'm a teacher of dance.
If I may, I'd like to go a bit further into this subject. My confusion over the logic behind the words is still there. Regardless of the intention of the phrase, 'all but' still seems to say 'everything except' rather than '
That's what I get for asking a music teacher about English! Well, I'm a teacher of dance.
If I may, I'd like to go a bit further into this subject. My confusion over the logic behind the words is still there. Regardless of the intention of the phrase, 'all but' still seems to say 'everything except' rather than '
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Thanks again, Clive. I think it's beginning to dawn on me now. I tend to be inspect things a bit too closely. My confusion was that I didn't see 'all but' meaning 'almost' or 'nearly'. Several people have used the old phrase "can't see the forrest for the trees," in reference to me and I don't have anything to disprove them! I'm the kind of person that if someone says "2 + 2 = 4" I"ll say, "
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