Use of 'but'

Question

Hi everybody,What is the meaning of the following sentence:'This music is going to have a little bit of everything but more rock.'?I think it means it will be very colourful if we consider its music style but it doesN'T contain 'rock'. Am I right?In the case I'm not right: how could I decide whether 'but' means this or something else?Thanks for your answer in advance.

Mister Micawber · Accepted Answer

Hole One a New SeeI think it means it will be very colourful if we consider its music style, but it doesN'T contain 'rock'. Am I right?

Yes.

Hole One a New See · Answer

Thank you very much

How could I say that it will contain more rock (if we consider amounts [e.g. amount of styles in that song / piece of music / etc.])? I would like to see a sentence which is similar to the previous one (if we consider the words, not the meaning) if it is possible. I just would like to see the difference.

Thanks for the answer in advance.

Mister Micawber · Answer

I have no idea what you are looking for.  Please explain more. G'night.

Hole One a New See · Answer

Good night! And thanks for everything

1. I would like to understand when we can use 'but' in the sense of 'except'. (I checked it in monolingual dictionary but with "more" it differs a little bit from those examples)

2. Why is 'more' in this sentence? What is the role of it?

'This music is going to have a little bit of everything but rock.' would be enough for me.

3. Many people believe that (mistakenly) it (the original sentence) means:

"The music will be very colourful if we consider its music style and it is going to contain more rock (if we consider its amount)."

That is the reason I wanted to see an example which:

- has this meaning
- is similar to the original one (which has different meaning)

Similar means here that the new sentence use very similar words (in similar order) but means something else.

For example the first part would be also:

"This music is going to have a little bit of everything"

but the rest has the mentioned different meaning.

I would try:

'but containing more rock'.

The new whole sentence would be:

This music is going to have a little bit of everything but containing more rock.

That would be my first try.

Thanks for your answer in advance.

Mister Micawber · Answer

Hole One a New See1. I would like to understand when we can use 'but' in the sense of 'except'. (I checked it in monolingual dictionary but with "more" it differs a little bit from those examples)

I don't have a comprehensive view, but I suppose you need some reference to a whole in order to use 'but':

I like every fruit but/except grapes.— This works.
I don't like fruit except bananas.— 'But' cannot be used here.

Or perhaps the use of 'but' = 'except' is possible wherever there is no confusion with the conjunction.

Hole One a New See2. Why is 'more' in this sentence? What is the role of it?'This music is going to have a little bit of everything but rock.' would be enough for me.

There is no rock in the your version of the music; in the original, there is some rock in the music.

Hole One a New SeeThis music is going to have a little bit of everything but containing more rock.

It is now morning and I have a fresh eye, but your #3 discussion still loses me; however, your sentence immediately above seems a reasonable paraphrase of the original.

Hole One a New See · Answer

Thank you

Is it possible to be a typo accidentally there?

I mean there is your first comment in this thread (29th March 2014 2:56 pm in Hungary) and there is this one (Sunday, 12:14 am in Hungary):

in the original, there is some rock in the music.

The second one seems the opposite of the first.

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My other question: there is this sentence:

I don't like fruit except bananas.

What is the reason of that I can't use 'but' here?

Thanks for your answer in advance.

Use of 'but'

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