Unusual syntactic use of the word “but”
If we are able to identify two things (a, b) or two occurrences of a
thing, there must be some difference between them, otherwise it would
make no sense to say that there are two things, or two occurrences of
a thing, but one thing.
A strange syntactic device is used here that makes "but" sounds grammatically incorrect here. Could you discuss the use case and explain how to use it properly?
grammar syntax
asked 8 hours ago
puffofsmokepuffofsmoke
264
add a comment |
If we are able to identify two things (a, b) or two occurrences of a
thing, there must be some difference between them, otherwise it would
make no sense to say that there are two things, or two occurrences of
a thing, but one thing.
A strange syntactic device is used here that makes "but" sounds grammatically incorrect here. Could you discuss the use case and explain how to use it properly?
grammar syntax
asked 8 hours ago
puffofsmokepuffofsmoke
264
Just keep reading it.
– Lambie
8 hours ago
Part of the problem is that you have expressed you question in language that can be understood in more than one way. What exactly do you mean by “occurrences of a thing”? It sounds to me like a confusion between ‘type’ and ‘token’. So do you mean, for example, that an earthquake is a thing (a TYPE of event), so there is something contradictory about talking about two of ‘the same thing’ (TOKENS or occurrences of the TYPE). It cannot be as simple as that. So please provide concrete sentences referring to concrete entities or events so that we can understand your question.
– Tuffy
8 hours ago
culturalanalysis.net/2019/02/26/the-law-of-identity
– puffofsmoke
7 hours ago
Please don't cross-post. This is essentially a duplicate of the same question at ELL.
– Jason Bassford
6 hours ago
add a comment |
If we are able to identify two things (a, b) or two occurrences of a
thing, there must be some difference between them, otherwise it would
make no sense to say that there are two things, or two occurrences of
a thing, but one thing.
A strange syntactic device is used here that makes "but" sounds grammatically incorrect here. Could you discuss the use case and explain how to use it properly?
grammar syntax
asked 8 hours ago
puffofsmokepuffofsmoke
264
If we are able to identify two things (a, b) or two occurrences of a
thing, there must be some difference between them, otherwise it would
make no sense to say that there are two things, or two occurrences of
a thing, but one thing.
A strange syntactic device is used here that makes "but" sounds grammatically incorrect here. Could you discuss the use case and explain how to use it properly?
grammar syntax
grammar syntax
asked 8 hours ago
puffofsmokepuffofsmoke
264
asked 8 hours ago
puffofsmokepuffofsmoke
264
asked 8 hours ago
puffofsmokepuffofsmoke
264
asked 8 hours ago
puffofsmokepuffofsmoke
264
asked 8 hours ago
puffofsmokepuffofsmoke
264
264
Just keep reading it.
– Lambie
8 hours ago
Part of the problem is that you have expressed you question in language that can be understood in more than one way. What exactly do you mean by “occurrences of a thing”? It sounds to me like a confusion between ‘type’ and ‘token’. So do you mean, for example, that an earthquake is a thing (a TYPE of event), so there is something contradictory about talking about two of ‘the same thing’ (TOKENS or occurrences of the TYPE). It cannot be as simple as that. So please provide concrete sentences referring to concrete entities or events so that we can understand your question.
– Tuffy
8 hours ago
culturalanalysis.net/2019/02/26/the-law-of-identity
– puffofsmoke
7 hours ago
Please don't cross-post. This is essentially a duplicate of the same question at ELL.
– Jason Bassford
6 hours ago
add a comment |
Just keep reading it.
– Lambie
8 hours ago
Part of the problem is that you have expressed you question in language that can be understood in more than one way. What exactly do you mean by “occurrences of a thing”? It sounds to me like a confusion between ‘type’ and ‘token’. So do you mean, for example, that an earthquake is a thing (a TYPE of event), so there is something contradictory about talking about two of ‘the same thing’ (TOKENS or occurrences of the TYPE). It cannot be as simple as that. So please provide concrete sentences referring to concrete entities or events so that we can understand your question.
– Tuffy
8 hours ago
culturalanalysis.net/2019/02/26/the-law-of-identity
– puffofsmoke
7 hours ago
Please don't cross-post. This is essentially a duplicate of the same question at ELL.
– Jason Bassford
6 hours ago
Just keep reading it.
– Lambie
8 hours ago
Just keep reading it.
– Lambie
8 hours ago
Part of the problem is that you have expressed you question in language that can be understood in more than one way. What exactly do you mean by “occurrences of a thing”? It sounds to me like a confusion between ‘type’ and ‘token’. So do you mean, for example, that an earthquake is a thing (a TYPE of event), so there is something contradictory about talking about two of ‘the same thing’ (TOKENS or occurrences of the TYPE). It cannot be as simple as that. So please provide concrete sentences referring to concrete entities or events so that we can understand your question.
– Tuffy
8 hours ago
Part of the problem is that you have expressed you question in language that can be understood in more than one way. What exactly do you mean by “occurrences of a thing”? It sounds to me like a confusion between ‘type’ and ‘token’. So do you mean, for example, that an earthquake is a thing (a TYPE of event), so there is something contradictory about talking about two of ‘the same thing’ (TOKENS or occurrences of the TYPE). It cannot be as simple as that. So please provide concrete sentences referring to concrete entities or events so that we can understand your question.
– Tuffy
8 hours ago
culturalanalysis.net/2019/02/26/the-law-of-identity
– puffofsmoke
7 hours ago
culturalanalysis.net/2019/02/26/the-law-of-identity
– puffofsmoke
7 hours ago
Please don't cross-post. This is essentially a duplicate of the same question at ELL.
– Jason Bassford
6 hours ago
Please don't cross-post. This is essentially a duplicate of the same question at ELL.
– Jason Bassford
6 hours ago
add a comment |
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Just keep reading it.
– Lambie
8 hours ago
Part of the problem is that you have expressed you question in language that can be understood in more than one way. What exactly do you mean by “occurrences of a thing”? It sounds to me like a confusion between ‘type’ and ‘token’. So do you mean, for example, that an earthquake is a thing (a TYPE of event), so there is something contradictory about talking about two of ‘the same thing’ (TOKENS or occurrences of the TYPE). It cannot be as simple as that. So please provide concrete sentences referring to concrete entities or events so that we can understand your question.
– Tuffy
8 hours ago
culturalanalysis.net/2019/02/26/the-law-of-identity
– puffofsmoke
7 hours ago
Please don't cross-post. This is essentially a duplicate of the same question at ELL.
– Jason Bassford
6 hours ago