all but

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JACEK1

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Hello.

In the article entitled "Swedes work shortest hours", I have found the following sentence:

Swedish workers have more paid vacation than any other Europeans and work shortest weeks all but three nationalities.

Does " all but" mean "except for"?

Thank you.
 
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The sentence makes no sense with either variation. Have you quoted it correctly?

What is the source of the article?
 
Please see the entitled article on the Internet.

I did make a mistake of writing "there" instead of "three".
 
It needs a "than." They work shorter hours than all but three other nationalities.
 
What would "than all but" mean?
 
What would "than all but" mean? "than all except /for/" or "than all excluding"?
 
Yes, it means "all except for."
 
That was tricky.
 
"All but" can also mean "nearly" or "almost." As in, "This question was so difficult that I all but lost my mind."
 
***** NOT A TEACHER *****

I am very glad that the OP raised this topic.

I am concerned that some intermediate and even advanced students might be confused by this structure when they either hear or read it.

I have made up two sentences that, I hope, will help them.

*****

There is a university class of 30 students. The oldest student is TheParser, who is 78; Raul is 35; and all the others are twentysomethings.

Thus, one way to mention Raul would be:

"Raul is older than all but one other student."

_____

The four most populous cities in the United States are (in order): New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Houston. (Based on the 2010 census.)

Thus, we could say that "Houston has more people than all but three other American cities."

_____

I will now quote a sentence that I found in the "books" section of Google. I am confident that all learners can now understand its meaning.

"Australia ... brought home more medals than all but four other countries."

-- Bill Bryson, In a Sunburned Country (2000).


*****

Personally, I am eager to know how to diagram this kind of sentence. So far, I have been unable to find out.
 
You could write, "... and work the shortest weeks of all but three nationalities."

 
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