| 词组 | not ... but |
| 释义 | not ... but Under this heading a number of commentators take up the issue of but following a negative. It is aspersed as a double negative by some, but it is not a double negative (see the explanation at BUT 4). Bryant 1962 says that not... but is always followed by a number, though this is not quite true either. The construction is most frequently followed by a number (which may be either cardinal or ordinal), but other words (such as few) are used too. The not ... but construction is the older of a pair of expressions (the other lacks the negative) that mean the same thing. It is most common in speech, but not entirely limited to it. Here are a few examples from speech and letters: • The last duel I fought didn't take but five minutes — Emily Dickinson, letter, 11 Jan. 1850 • You haven't done it but once —Flannery O'Connor, letter, 20 Sept. 1958 • ... we never lost but very few logs —Elbert Herald, quoted in Our Appalachia, ed. Laurel Shackelford & Bill Weinberg, 1977 • "You ... can't wear but one suit of clothes at a time," Mantzel says philosophically —Nancy Schommer, People, 18 Mar. 1985 Here is one from fiction: • ... and Miss Betty didn't have to be told but once —Peter Taylor, The Old Forest and Other Stories, 1985 Bryant calls this construction standard in speech. The respondents to Crisp's 1971 usage survey ranked it "disputable." What it seems to be, really, is a bit old-fashioned, and like many old-fashioned expressions may be more common in rural speech than in urban speech, and hence suspect to the city-dweller. It has been in the process of being replaced by the positive construction— especially in print—for quite some time now: • It makes but one mistake —Emily Dickinson, letter, early 1878 • ... had won 25 away games and lost but 15 — Anthony Cotton, Sports Illustrated, 30 Mar. 1981 • ... he had but 12 days to go —C. D. B. Bryan, N.Y. Times Book Rev., 16 Oct. 1983 Note that the meaning of not... but is "only." When but means "except," it is also common with negatives: • No respect was paid but to merit —John Butt, English Literature in the M id-Eighteenth Century, edited & completed by Geoffrey Carnall, 1979 • ... there's no place for the kids to play but in the street —And More by Andy Rooney, 1982 For a negative followed by but and that or what, see but 5. |
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