Timeline for Is this sentence correct ? ( use of but)
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
19 events
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| Dec 13 at 15:02 | comment | added | Jed's Class | @CanadianYankee ahh that's it ! The sentence is fine but I just want to know why it's fine . I can't understand how the phrases have the same construction. It's because of conjunction reduction. thanks | |
| Dec 13 at 14:47 | comment | added | Canadian Yankee | I think this is an example of conjunction reduction, where identical parts of the sentence can be omitted following a conjunction: "It is raining, but [it is raining] just a little." The part in square brackets is dropped because it is redundant and sounds stilted; but if it's put back in, you have the parallel construction you're looking for. | |
| Dec 13 at 14:44 | answer | added | user81561 | timeline score: 0 | |
| Dec 13 at 13:12 | comment | added | Jed's Class | I was trying to learn how to use conjunction "but" "And, but, either … or, etc. (coordinating conjunctions) Coordinating conjunctions connect items which are the same grammatical type, e.g. words, phrases, clauses. The most common coordinating conjunctions are and, or, but." from this website: [link] (dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/…) like here it says same grammatical. | |
| Dec 13 at 12:47 | comment | added | TimR | It is raining but very lightly. What is on either side of but do not have the same overt structure. But it is understood that "very lightly" has [it is raining] as its anchor by virtue of the coordination. | |
| Dec 13 at 12:39 | comment | added | TimR | What do you mean by "parallel"? Please cite a grammatical text that defines this word so we can understand what you mean by it. Where are you finding it? You take the high road and I'll take the low road is parallel; the coordinated clauses have the same syntactic structure. | |
| Dec 13 at 12:24 | comment | added | FumbleFingers | But the utterance "It is just a little" is not "grammatically correct". Also, it's not even idiomatically acceptable if uncontracted, except possibly with heavy stress on is, when contradicting someone who's just claimed it's not raining. Compare "I am a little" (not a valid standalone sentence, but idiomatically fine in a conversational context as a reply to "Are you cold?"). | |
| Dec 13 at 12:01 | comment | added | Jed's Class | I guess my real confusion is if "It is raining, but just a little." is not parallel. Why is it still grammatically correct ? I thought "but" connects two different ideas of the same structure. | |
| Dec 13 at 11:55 | comment | added | Stuart F | What does "It's starting to rain( but not yet realized if it's gonna be heavy or light) but just a little. ( realized that it's just a light rain)" mean? Are you realising halfway through the sentence that it's only light rain? Language learning normally assumes that you don't change your mind halfway through what you're saying. Although in real life if you changed your mind (or realised it was raining lightly) you'd probably break off and say something else without worrying about it all being grammatical, e.g. "It's started to - ah it's only a shower". | |
| Dec 13 at 11:49 | comment | added | TimR | The sentence is not ungrammatical. But it does not express the idea you have described, that you do not know if the rain will become heavier. | |
| Dec 13 at 11:48 | comment | added | TimR | If you don't know whether the rain will become heavy, you can say "It's just starting to rain." and leave it at that. "just" there indicates a few drops are falling. | |
| Dec 13 at 11:48 | comment | added | Jed's Class | So, my understanding is wrong about ( raining and just a little ) sharing the word " is " ? If it's not parallel, that sentence is wrong ? | |
| Dec 13 at 11:44 | comment | added | TimR | No, it is not parallel. But you are correct that [it is raining] is the semantic anchor for the second clause. | |
| Dec 13 at 11:43 | comment | added | Paul Tanenbaum | I don’t understand your explanation. And if there’s any parallelism, it’s between It’s raining and It’s [only] raining a little. | |
| Dec 13 at 11:38 | comment | added | Jed's Class | Is it parallel ? Is my explanation correct ? | |
| Dec 13 at 11:35 | comment | added | Paul Tanenbaum | That sentence is fine. | |
| Dec 13 at 11:31 | history | edited | Jed's Class | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
added 1 character in body
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| S Dec 13 at 11:31 | review | First questions | |||
| Dec 13 at 16:38 | |||||
| S Dec 13 at 11:31 | history | asked | Jed's Class | CC BY-SA 4.0 |