rewrite the sentence

[vkhu]

Rewrite the sentence (must use the word "but"):
"All the people in Japan speak Japanese"
->There is..................

Answer in key: There is no one but speaks Japanese in Japan
My answer: There is but no one in Japan who doesn't speak Japanese

Is my answer acceptable? If not then why? All 3 sentences seem to have the same meaning to me.

 

[BrunaBC]

Rewrite the sentence (must use the word "but"):
"All the people in Japan speak Japanese"
->There is..................

Answer in key: There is no one but speaks Japanese in Japan
My answer: There is but no one in Japan who doesn't speak Japanese

Is my answer acceptable? If not then why? All 3 sentences seem to have the same meaning to me.

I'm not a teacher, but the sentence in blue sounds weird to my ears.

 

[5jj]

There is no one but speaks Japanese in Japan
There is but no one in Japan who doesn't speak Japanese

Neither of these is natural English.

 

[emsr2d2]

The answer in the key is very unnatural. If I had to use "but" and keep the meaning I would say "All the people in Japan speak no language but Japanese." I should point out that a) that's still an unlikely sentence and b) it's obviously untrue!

 

[vkhu]

Neither of these is natural English.

I swear I have seen the word "but" used to emphasize something (for example: "we are but mayflies"). So couldn't my answer be understood as "There's absolutely no one in Japan who doesn't speak Japanese"?

 

[bhaisahab]

I swear I have seen the word "but" used to emphasize something (for example: "we are but mayflies"). So couldn't my answer be understood as "There's absolutely no one in Japan who doesn't speak Japanese"?

No, it couldn't.

 

[Barb_D]

In all honestly, skip this exercise.

This use of "but" happens, but it's not common, and your ability to speak and understand English will not be dimished by your inability to form natural sentences. That is most likely because in modern English, many of these "but" sentences no longer sound natural.

Two fairly common ways to use it:
Are we but [nouns]? -- A (rhetorical, usually) question that means "Are we no more than [nouns]?" or "Are we no better than [nouns]?"

I could but state -- I could do nothing else except stare. (I couldn't speak, run away, interfere, etc.)

 

[emsr2d2]

Using "but" to mean "except" is more commonly used when referring to people and things, in BrE.

- Who do you think will win the lottery?
- Anyone but me.

- What do you want for dinner?
- Anything but pizza.

It can be used in the context you quoted in your original post, but the wording is usually more informal:

- What language do people speak in Japan?
- I don't know anyone who speaks anything but Japanese.

(A more likely response would be "They only speak Japanese".)

 

[Barb_D]

I competely agree - but I'm at a loss as to how to pair that with a sentence that starts "there is..."

(And now I want pizza!)

 

[emsr2d2]

There is no-one here but me.

 

[5jj]

I tried for some time. All I could come up with was: There is no language but Japanese spoken in Japan.

It's not true, doesn't convey exactly the same message as the original, and it's not very natural. Apart from that, I think it's pretty good.

 

[tzfujimino]

Rewrite the sentence (must use the word "but"):
"All the people in Japan speak Japanese"
->There is..................

There is no one but speaks Japanese in Japan
There is but no one in Japan who doesn't speak Japanese

I fully understand vkhu's problem.
I feel the first sentence is OK. (I mean... it's grammatically OK.)
One of my grammar books(written by a Japanese) gives 'There is no one but knows it.' as an example sentence.
And...it says " 'but,' when used as a relative pronoun, is the same as 'that～not...' (literal translation into English)
So...
There is no one but knows it.
=There is no one that doesn't know it.

The book doesn't say whether the structure is natural or not, unfortunately.
All I can learn from it is...it's grammatical. And this is one of the problems we (non-native teachers and learners) face.

P.S. I don't think I can agree with 'All the people in Japan speak Japanese.' part. It's not correct.:-D

 

[emsr2d2]

I fully understand vkhu's problem.
I feel the first sentence is OK. (I mean... it's grammatically OK.)
One of my grammar books(written by a Japanese) gives 'There is no one but knows it.' as an example sentence.
And...it says " 'but,' when used as a relative pronoun, is the same as 'that～not...' (literal translation into English)
So...
There is no one but knows it.
=There is no one that doesn't know it.

The book doesn't say whether the structure is natural or not, unfortunately.
All I can learn from it is...it's grammatical. And this is one of the problems we (non-native teachers and learners) face.

P.S. I don't think I can agree with 'All the people in Japan speak Japanese.' part. It's not correct.:-D

"There is not one but knows it" does indeed mean "Everyone knows it" but it's a construction that I don't think has been used colloquially for a good couple of hundred years.

I think we've all agreed that claiming that everyone in Japan speaks Japanese is incorrect. However, accuracy of facts is rarely a factor in language exercises.

 

[5jj]

I feel the first sentence is OK. (I mean... it's grammatically OK.)
One of my grammar books(written by a Japanese) gives 'There is no one but knows it.' as an example sentence.
And...it says " 'but,' when used as a relative pronoun, is the same as 'that～not...' (literal translation into English)
So...
There is no one but knows it.
=There is no one that doesn't know it.

I have seen it after 'not' - There is not a woman but wants a child - but it sounds very stilted indeed to me. I have never seen it after 'nobody/no one', but I suppose it's possible. I would suggest that learners do not use such constructions. They are rare, and sound unnatural to many native speakers.