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#2 (permalink) Fri Jan 05, 2007 11:34 am The use of "although and but" together |
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If we replace the conjunction 'although' by 'in spite of the fact that', it might be easier to shed some light.
1. In spite of the fact that she was not feeling well, she went to work.
2. In spite of the fact that they had never seen the ocean, they had heard about it.
The second sentence, so far, has a similar structure to the first. Now, the author wanted to add a reservation (a 'but') to its second clause: (...they had heard about it,) but never seen it.
We could also do that to the first sentence, e.g.:
In spite of the fact that she was not feeling well, she went to work, but couldn't really concentrate.
Hope it's a little bit clearer now. |
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Conchita Language Coach

Joined: 26 Dec 2005 Posts: 2826 Location: Madrid, Spain
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#3 (permalink) Fri Jan 05, 2007 12:39 pm The use of "although and but" together |
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Hi Tom
I agree with Conchita's take on using although and but together in a sentence. But I would also be interested in seeing the complete sentence(s) that your Indian author wrote prior to writing "Although they had heard about it, but never seen it."
Amy _________________ "Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." ~ Abraham Lincoln |
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Yankee I'm a Communicator ;-)

Joined: 16 Apr 2006 Posts: 8316 Location: USA
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#4 (permalink) Fri Jan 05, 2007 15:07 pm The use of "although and but" together |
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"Although they had heard about it, but never seen it." is a fragment and, as such, should not be set apart on its own as if it were a sentence.
To make this a sentence, we could simply change "but" to "they had":
Although they had heard about it, they had never seen it. _________________ Billie Jean is not my lover. Hee. |
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Prezbucky I'm a Communicator ;-)

Joined: 07 Nov 2006 Posts: 2621 Location: Nashville, TN (USA)
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#5 (permalink) Fri Jan 05, 2007 19:39 pm The use of "although and but" together |
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| Yankee wrote: |
Hi Tom
I agree with Conchita's take on using although and but together in a sentence. But I would also be interested in seeing the complete sentence(s) that your Indian author wrote prior to writing "Although they had heard about it, but never seen it."
Amy |
Thanks, Amy! :D
Here you go!
"A long time ago there were people living high up in the mountains. They had never seen the ocean. Although they had heard about it, but never seen it, and this made them feel very sad. So one woman in the village said, "Don't be sad; what you can't see, you can see--you just have to see without looking..."
Tom
PS: Amy, does it seem OK to you? What if I remove "but" from the sentence? What about spoken English--I mean, would it sound odd even in spoken English? |
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Tom I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 30 May 2006 Posts: 2103
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| Past and present together: "Wanted+will+begin" | Two sentences from an adapted text... :) |