what does "all but" mean?
seguso
When somebody says "this is all but clear", does it mean it
that is is clear or that it isn't?
Thank you
Pierre
'All but' means almost.
But I agree that for a non-native speaker it's pretty confusing. If you
just look at the sentence and try to analyze it, you've got to come to
the conclusion that you can associate almost any adjective to 'this',
except clear, which surely should mean it isn't clear at all.
The marvels of the English language....
--
Pierre
seguso
<s93...@student.ulg.ac.be> wrote:
>
> 'All but' means almost.
:-O=
> But I agree that for a non-native speaker it's pretty confusing. If you
> just look at the sentence and try to analyze it, you've got to come to
> the conclusion that you can associate almost any adjective to 'this',
> except clear, which surely should mean it isn't clear at all.
Yes, precisely. Furthermore, in italian it is used in the
other sense! ( all except clear)
> The marvels of the English language....
Thanks a lot!
Maurizio
Pierre
> Yes, precisely. Furthermore, in italian it is used in the
> other sense! ( all except clear)
Actually I've just made some research and you can say that in English
too, but then you have to use 'anything but'.
PS : For those kinds of question I could suggest you look at :
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/
--
Pierre
meirman
<s93...@student.ulg.ac.be> posted:
>seguso wrote:
>>
>> hello,
>>
>> When somebody says "this is all but clear", does it mean it
>> that is is clear or that it isn't?
>
>'All but' means almost.
You're right, but his example is a little different.
All but forgotten, means all but completely forgotten, that is, almost
forgotten.
All but clear probably means 'not clear'. That is, it is all sorts of
things, witty, concise, eloquent, flowery, but it's not clear.
>
>But I agree that for a non-native speaker it's pretty confusing. If you
>just look at the sentence and try to analyze it, you've got to come to
>the conclusion that you can associate almost any adjective to 'this',
>except clear, which surely should mean it isn't clear at all.
You're sort of saying the same thing here I guess, but I read the
first 2 lines of this paragraph, and thinking it didn't relate, then
wrote my own answer.
>The marvels of the English language....
s/ meirman If you are emailing me please
say if you are posting the same response.
Born west of Pittsburgh Pa. 10 years
Indianapolis, 7 years
Chicago, 6 years
Brooklyn NY 12 years
Baltimore 17 years
Pierre
>
> >'All but' means almost.
> You're right, but his example is a little different.
> All but forgotten, means all but completely forgotten, that is, almost
> forgotten.
>
> All but clear probably means 'not clear'. That is, it is all sorts of
> things, witty, concise, eloquent, flowery, but it's not clear.
Isn't that meaning more commonly expressed by 'anything but' a my
dictionary suggests ?
Apparently I've got another 'quite' on my hands.
I still remember my puzzlement when my English teacher told us that
'quite' could mean both 'more or less', 'sort of' and 'completely'. When
I asked him how we should choose between the two meanings in a
particular sentence he said to me : 'It's obvious. You just know'.
Thankfully nobody never said to me 'I'm quite sure I'll come tonight'
because then I wouldn't know if there'd be any point in waiting for them
to arrive.
--
Pierre
Thomas Pain
"anything except", or "not"
meirman
<s93...@student.ulg.ac.be> posted:
>meirman wrote:
>>
>> >'All but' means almost.
>> You're right, but his example is a little different.
>
>> All but forgotten, means all but completely forgotten, that is, almost
>> forgotten.
>>
>> All but clear probably means 'not clear'. That is, it is all sorts of
>> things, witty, concise, eloquent, flowery, but it's not clear.
>
>Isn't that meaning more commonly expressed by 'anything but' a my
>dictionary suggests ?
Maybe.
>
>Apparently I've got another 'quite' on my hands.
>
>I still remember my puzzlement when my English teacher told us that
>'quite' could mean both 'more or less', 'sort of' and 'completely'. When
>I asked him how we should choose between the two meanings in a
>particular sentence he said to me : 'It's obvious. You just know'.
>Thankfully nobody never said to me 'I'm quite sure I'll come tonight'
>because then I wouldn't know if there'd be any point in waiting for them
>to arrive.
Daniel James
> When somebody says "this is all but clear", does it mean it
> that is is clear or that it isn't?
That's not something a skilful user of the language would say
- unless, perhaps, they intended to mislead.
If I were to say "Fred Gibbon is all but forgotten" I would
mean that only a very few people remember Fred Gibbon; he is
not entirely forgotten but very nearly so. That pattern should
apply to "all but clear" so something described that way
should be very nearly clear, but not quite.
I don't believe, though, that that's what soneone would
actually mean if they said "all but clear". I think it's much
more likely that they would have meant "anything but clear"
(meaning not clear at all) but phrased it carelessly and so
destroyed the meaning.
Again: "Fred Gibbon is anything but forgotten" means that many
people remember Fred Gibbon very well.
I think it's fair to say that the meaning of the words "all
but clear" is all but clear - though the intent of anyone
using those words is anything but clear.
Cheers,
Daniel.
Mason Barge
"All but" is a dangerous expression in English. If it is followed by
a past participle, it usually mean "almost". If it is followed by a
non-verbal adjective, it can mean "not at all".
"All but clear" means extremely unclear, whereas "all but white" would
most likely be taken to mean "nearly white".
The better expression to mean "very much the opposite of _________" is
"anything but _______".
"This is anything but clear" means extremely unclear, and there is no
possible ambiguity. Usually, this expression is contradictory to a
degree and is used only in response to a previous statement or
assumption.
--
Mason Barge
"People who like this sort of thing will find this the sort of thing they like."
-- Abraham Lincoln
Polar
<s93...@student.ulg.ac.be> wrote:
[...]
>Thankfully nobody never said to me 'I'm quite sure I'll come tonight'
>because then I wouldn't know if there'd be any point in waiting for them
>to arrive.
>
BZZZZT! Bouton!
"Thankfully" is an adverb, meaning "in a thankful manner."
The beggar bowed thankfully before his benefactor.
You could use "fortunately" in your example above,
or "I'm glad" or "I'm grateful".
Also, watch your double negative: "...nobody never said..."
Has to be "..nobody EVER said...".
I know, I know, it's still there in French, but it's a definite
"class" marker in English, for better or for worse.
(turns back wearily from smiting at the waves...)
--
Polar
Raymond S. Wise
"Polar" <sme...@mindspring.com> wrote in message
news:hi8rius8ktp3hibvi...@4ax.com...
The following is from the Web site of "SIL International (formerly known as
the Summer Institute of Linguistics)":
From
http://www.sil.org/linguistics/GlossaryOfLinguisticTerms/WhatIsASentenceAdve
rb.htm
[quote]
What is a sentence adverb?
Definition
A sentence adverb is an adverb that modifies a whole sentence.
Example (English)
Here is an example of a sentence adverb:
_Thankfully,_ he didn't discover my mistake.
[end quote]
That's the only example given on that page to illustrate the meaning of a
sentence adverb.
--
Raymond S. Wise
Minneapolis, Minnesota USA
E-mail: mplsray @ yahoo . com
Mason Barge
wrote:
From Merriam Webster Online:
Main Entry: thank·ful·ly
Pronunciation: -f(&-)lE
Function: adverb
Date: before 12th century
1 : in a thankful manner <spoke thankfully>
2 : as makes one thankful <graceless stadiums... thankfully going out
of fashion -- R. G. Echevarriá> <thankfully, those opinions are
advanced with graceful prose -- Ken Auletta>