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Park sang joon Posted 12 years ago
Grammar
Not that~ but that or not because~but because~
I have found the following sentences on this forum. Please see the first underlined sentence.
It's not that siren changes its tune but it is because of something known as the Doppler Effect. This is where the sound waves coming from moving objects get squashed or stretched depending on whether something is moving toward or away from you.
The first sentence consists of two clause, so it looks like obey the parallelism.
But it looks like to me the followings are normal structures.:
1)not that ~ but that~
2)not because~but because~
3)not because of~ but because of~
In any chance, Isn't the sentence in question unnatural or ungrammatical?
Thank you in advance for your help.
It's not that siren changes its tune but it is because of something known as the Doppler Effect. This is where the sound waves coming from moving objects get squashed or stretched depending on whether something is moving toward or away from you.
The first sentence consists of two clause, so it looks like obey the parallelism.
But it looks like to me the followings are normal structures.:
1)not that ~ but that~
2)not because~but because~
3)not because of~ but because of~
In any chance, Isn't the sentence in question unnatural or ungrammatical?
Thank you in advance for your help.
Top answer
park sang joon Isn't the sentence in question unnatural or ungrammatical? Right. It would be better with something more parallel, as you suggest.
- park sang joon Isn't the sentence in question unnatural or ungrammatical?
- Right.
- It would be better with something more parallel, as you suggest.
- I would have written It's not that the siren changes pitch but that the Doppler Effect causes us to perceive it so.
- CJ
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4 Answers
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park sang joonIsn't the sentence in question unnatural or ungrammatical?Right. It would be better with something more parallel, as you suggest. I would have written
It's not that the siren changes pitch but that the Doppler Effect causes us to perceive it so.
CJ
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Thank you, Mr.Jim for your quick answer. 
It is grammatical but unnatural so I could use it, but I shouldn't; am I right?
It is grammatical but unnatural so I could use it, but I shouldn't; am I right?
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park sang joonIt is grammatical but unnaturalIt is certainly unnatural to my ear, and in my opinion it is only borderline grammatical, so my recommendation is not to use it at all.
CJ
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Thank you, Mr.Jim for your quick answer and valuable advice.
It is certainly unnatural to my ear, and in my opinion
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