John Russell wrote this story for VOA Learning English. The next time you read stories or listen to English speakers, pay careful attention to how they use “but.” It’s a small, simple word, but it can bring variety and richness to your language. If you add too much of any one thing, the result might not be very good. You need the right amounts of the right ingredients to get a nice finished product. Remember, like any word or structure, it is good to use “but” in the correct amount. Such connections are important for expressing more complex language in writing and in speaking. It is also about exploring connections between ideas. This report is not only about telling stories. "She said she had lost their address long ago, but a few days later it miraculously turned up." It comes from the short story, "That in Aleppo Once." by Vladimir Nabokov: Here is one way to connect the two statements. She said she had lost their address long ago.Ī few days later it miraculously turned up. Take these two statements and connect them using “but.” You can pause the audio after the second statement if you need more time before hearing the answer. Speaking or writing that uses “and” too much becomes more like a list – and lists are not very interesting. Morphemes can be either single words (free morphemes) or parts of words (bound morphemes). Other common conjunctions, such as “and,” do not have the same effect, Dicks believes. This creates interest between statements and ideas. What comes after “but” goes against the expectation. The words that come before “but” create an expectation. One of these words is “but.”ĭicks says “but” has an interesting effect on the reader or listener. In the book Storyworthy, the American storyteller Matthew Dicks described a few words that can bring a story to life. “John strained his eyes to see whether there might be men coming down the mountain, and he didn’t see anyone.” The second part of the sentence suggests that the effort was to no use – John did not see anyone.Ĭonsider how the sentence might have been different if “but” were not used.
The first part of the sentence suggests an effort – straining of the eyes.
The first clause starts with “John strained his eyes” and the second clause starts with “but the mountain.”
"John strained his eyes to see whether there might be men coming down the mountain, but the mountain was bare of human life." Consider these lines from “The Diamond as Big as the Ritz,” by F Scott Fitzgerald. We often use “but” to connect two clauses, or groups of words that have a subject and a predicate. When acting as a coordinating conjunction, “but” is used to add information to an earlier statement that usually contrasts with it in some way. It can act as a coordinating conjunction, preposition, adverb, and sometimes even a noun – as in the expression ‘No ifs ands or buts about it!’įor today’s report, let’s explore the part “but” plays as a coordinating conjunction. In this Everyday Grammar, we will explore how a simple connecting word makes for good storytelling. It can play an important part in creating colorful, interesting sentences. The simple, three-letter word “but” might not sound or look special, interesting or beautiful.īut this little word can be a powerful force in writing and in speaking.
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