[Vocabulary] but

[Silverobama]

Hi,

What does the "but" mean in this sentence?


I thought their allegations but reasonable.


Thanks a lot

 

[Richard1]

Hi,

It's a structure you won't see very often and I think it's a very archaic phrase
and hence one you should probably avoid.

If I'm correct I think it's a way of saying, 'I thought their allegations were reasonable, but only just'.

I'll be interested to see other comments since as I say it's uncommon.

 

[Raymott]

Hi,

It's a structure you won't see very often and I think it's a very archaic phrase
and hence one you should probably avoid.

If I'm correct I think it's a way of saying, 'I thought their allegations were reasonable, but only just'.

I'll be interested to see other comments since as I say it's uncommon.

I don't think I've heard of it. Do you have any examples?
But I agree - avoid it.

 

[Silverobama]

Thanks a lot, I asked a foreign friend online, he is teaching in China. He said it meant "anything but", but I couldn't look it up in dictionary.

 

[Richard1]

Hi,

Yes on reflection I think your friend's interpretation is correct and to be preferred to my original though of 'but only just'.

Regards

 

[bhaisahab]

Hi,

Yes on reflection I think your friend's interpretation is correct and to be preferred to my original though of 'but only just'.

Regards

I'd go with your original idea, "only just".

 

[5jj]

The Corpus of Contemporary American has 173 citations for 'were but', many of them along the lines of 'When you were but a child', suggesting the meaning of 'only, nothing more than'.

 

[Silverobama]

So "but" in my original sentence means "only, nothing more than", is it right? Do I still need to strike it out? I mean is it old-fashioned?

 

[5jj]

So "but" in my original sentence means "only, nothing more than", is it right? Do I still need to strike it out? I mean is it old-fashioned?

It seems old-fashioned to me, and the responses in this thread have shown that the meaning is not clear.

Personally (and this is a matter for individual choice, not rules), I would either omit 'but' or, possibly, replace it with 'only'

 

[Silverobama]

Like this:

I thought their allegations [STRIKE]but [/STRIKE]reasonable.
I thought their allegations only reasonable.

To mean that "their allegations was reasonable"?

 

[5jj]

I thought their allegations only reasonable.

To mean that "their allegations [STRIKE]was[/STRIKE] were reasonable"?

Yes, with the additional suggestion, perhaps, that some might have thought that they were unreasonable.