Interestingly, the OED gives the part of speech of "but" as "prep.,
adv., conj."  These distinct usages go back at least to the 9th c.  As
to whether it's one word, or two, or three, I fear that depends on your
theory of the lexicon and what you had for breakfast.

Herb

-----Original Message-----
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Peter Adams
Sent: 2008-02-28 22:50
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: But as a preposition?

Well, then, we (Herb, Nancy, and I, agree.  But then I'm wondering  
(and this harks back to my question of a week ago about "red" and  
"snow") is this "but" a different word from the coordinating  
conjunction "but," that just happens to be spelled and pronounced the  
same way, or is this the same word which can be in either of two  
lexical classes depending on context, or is this "but" the  
coordinating conjunction (form) being used as a preposition (function)?

Peter, who admits he's becoming a little obsessed with this  
question . . .

Peter Adams


On Feb 28, 2008, at 9:13 PM, STAHLKE, HERBERT F wrote:

> Yes, it can.  In the example you give, one could substitute a  
> undisputed
> preposition like "except" and get the same meaning.  With different
> meanings we can substitute other prepositions and the structure  
> remains
> the same:  behind, with, ahead of, after, near, under, above, etc.  So
> it fills a slot that is a prepositional slot.  It's semantic  
> connection
> to the coordinating conjunction "but" is remote.
>
> Herb
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Peter Adams
> Sent: 2008-02-28 20:34
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: But as a preposition?
>
> In a sentence like this
>
>             Everyone but Craig is going to the movies.
>
> what lexical class is "but"?  Can it be a preposition?
>
> Peter Adams
>
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