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Infinik Posted 16 years ago
Grammar
Subject-verb agreement after "but not"?
Hi there,
It's been quite a while since I was here asking dumb questions and looking up intriguing answers. It's a good forum, considering so many volunteers offering their help with many suggestions to think about. It's always the debate that interests me rather than a straight answer. Besides getting help from the English mother-tongued here, I find myself using Google for a statistical comparison of questionable usage all the time, recognizing the one with more hits as more proper. I know many people like to do this to choose the right word, say, but recently I get this feeling that some usage used to be considered wrong or improper is now frequent enough to obscure the correct usage. I feel that it isn't anymore the case that "the more people use it that way, the more correct or safer to use it is ". So now, searching Google has turned out to be more fun-seeing different types of mistakes or funny usage in many kinds of media-than more helpful in looking up a word.
OK, having said that, a search in Google reveals nothing too useful to my question, which is:
(1) Is "but not" a conjunction?
(2) Irregardless of (1), which one of the two below is correct regarding the verb "spin"? And why?
a) It vibrates but not spins.
b) It vibrates but not spin.
Thanks,
i
It's been quite a while since I was here asking dumb questions and looking up intriguing answers. It's a good forum, considering so many volunteers offering their help with many suggestions to think about. It's always the debate that interests me rather than a straight answer. Besides getting help from the English mother-tongued here, I find myself using Google for a statistical comparison of questionable usage all the time, recognizing the one with more hits as more proper. I know many people like to do this to choose the right word, say, but recently I get this feeling that some usage used to be considered wrong or improper is now frequent enough to obscure the correct usage. I feel that it isn't anymore the case that "the more people use it that way, the more correct or safer to use it is ". So now, searching Google has turned out to be more fun-
OK, having said that, a search in Google reveals nothing too useful to my question, which is:
(1) Is "but not" a conjunction?
(2) Irregardless of (1), which one of the two below is correct regarding the verb "spin"? And why?
a) It vibrates but not spins.
b) It vibrates but not spin.
Thanks,
i
Top answer
Infinik (1) Is "but not" a conjunction? (2) Irregardless of (1), which one of the two below is correct regarding the verb "spin"? And why?
- Infinik (1) Is "but not" a conjunction?
- (2) Irregardless of (1), which one of the two below is correct regarding the verb "spin"?
- And why?
- a) It vibrates but not spins.
- b) It vibrates but not spin.
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3 Answers
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Infinik(1) Is "but not" a conjunction?No. You can't use but not like that -- not with an inflected form of a verb. Here you need: It vibrates but doesn
(2) Irregardless of (1), which one of the two below is correct regarding the verb "spin"? And why?
a) It vibrates but not spins.
b) It vibrates but not spin.
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CalifJimNo. You can't use but not like that -- not with an inflected form of a verb. Here you need: It vibrates but doesn't spin.
Well, what is an inflected form of a verb? Is it like verb conjugation? So what matters here is that the form of the verb should remain the same after "but not", right?
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InfinikWell, what is an inflected form of a verb? Is it like verb conjugation?Yes. The present tense or the past tense of a verb -- these are inflected forms.
InfinikSo what matters here is that the form of the verb should remain the same after "but not", right?Yes, as long as the verb form you repeat is not inflected.
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