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Debpriya De Posted 15 years ago
Grammar

Coordinating conjunction

"This is not caused by evil, but by simple ignorance."

Shouldn't we rephrase this sentence as "This is caused not by evil, but by ignorance" to make it grammatically correct, since "but" is acting as a conjunction here and the two coordinated phrases should be governed by the same verb ("caused") and admissible at the same place individually ?
  

Top answer

The original sentence is correct. " The "but" overturns the "not" in the first part of the sentence, so that the second part of the sentence is no longer in the negative. Your revised sentence is correct, but it lacks the spirit of the original sentence.

— Anonymous

  • The original sentence is correct.
  • " The "but" overturns the "not" in the first part of the sentence, so that the second part of the sentence is no longer in the negative.
  • Your revised sentence is correct, but it lacks the spirit of the original sentence.
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2 Answers
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The original sentence is correct. You're saying essentially: "This is not caused by evil, rather it is caused by simple ignorance." The "but" overturns the "not" in the first part of the sentence, so that the second part of the sentence is no longer in the negative.

Your revised sentence is correct, but it lacks the spirit of the original sentence.
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Debpriya De"This is not caused by evil, but by simple ignorance."
Shouldn't we rephrase this sentence as "This is caused not by evil, but by ignorance" to make it grammatically correct
I understand your reasoning, but the rephrasing is not necessary. We intuitively understand which words are missing in a way that makes the structures parallel.

Th
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