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Stenka25 Posted 10 years ago
Vocabulary
The meaning of BUT
The meaning of BUT
The next quote coms from Lake of Sorrows by Erin Hart.
https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/145171.Erin_Hart
“And what was sport, underneath, but a kind of sanitized, ritualized violence?”
? Erin Hart, Lake of Sorrows
I'd like to ask a question about the meaning the underlined 'but'.
I checked out a dictionary and found the meaning that suits the quote in question as follows:
–preposition
10. with the exception of; except; save:
• No one replied but me.
So the meaning of BUT is 'except'.
Am I right?
One last thing about this tricky preposition.
• What was love but a giving up, a renunciation, a surrender?
Another example sentence on BUT just above gives me the idea that the underlined 'but' and BUT in the quote can be rephrased as 'if not'.
Is that possible?
If not, can you suggest another possible expression in place of BUT?
Regards.
The next quote coms from Lake of Sorrows by Erin Hart.
https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/145171.Erin_Hart
“And what was sport, underneath, but a kind of sanitized, ritualized violence?”
? Erin Hart, Lake of Sorrows
I'd like to ask a question about the meaning the underlined 'but'.
I checked out a dictionary and found the meaning that suits the quote in question as follows:
–preposition
10. with the exception of; except; save:
• No one replied but me.
So the meaning of BUT is 'except'.
Am I right?
One last thing about this tricky preposition.
• What was love but a giving up, a renunciation, a surrender?
Another example sentence on BUT just above gives me the idea that the underlined 'but' and BUT in the quote can be rephrased as 'if not'.
Is that possible?
If not, can you suggest another possible expression in place of BUT?
Regards.
Top answer
Yes, "except" and "if not" have the right kind of meaning. "except" doesn't directly substitute very well, though. "other than" may be the most obvious substitution in both sentences.
- Yes, "except" and "if not" have the right kind of meaning.
- "except" doesn't directly substitute very well, though.
- "other than" may be the most obvious substitution in both sentences.
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2 Answers
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Yes, "except" and "if not" have the right kind of meaning. "except" doesn't directly substitute very well, though. "other than" may be the most obvious substitution in both sentences.
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