Herb -
That sounds perfectly reasonable to me (for one thing, I can think of
plenty of examples with regular nouns after the but). I was just casting
about for something that could potentially be analyzed as a relative
(and again, I hadn't really thought about that kind of construction
before). Playing devil's advocate, though - what other prepositional
phrases allow a 'that'-clause as an object? All the ones I can think of
off the top of my head require an additional "which," yielding a
different structure (about that which X, for that which X, etc.). Could
this type of construction be limited enough that Curme thought it better
to deal with it as a relative than as a PP? 
 
The only other examples I've found so far in FROWN involved clear cases
of but coordinating two that-clauses, but I haven't checked any
nineteenth-century material yet.
Bill Spruiell
 
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Stahlke, Herbert F.W.
Sent: Tuesday, March 15, 2005 1:17 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: which and that
 
I think this comes about in a different way.  As English was developing
a whole array of subordinators, it used most of them with "that".  In
Middle English and Early Modern English combinations like "which that"
"because that", etc. were common.  We keep just a few of them in Modern
English, like "except that", "now that", and a few others.  But in all
other cases the "that" has disappeared.  I'd argue here that "but" in
your sentence is a preposition with a that-clause as its object. 
Herb
 
  _____  

From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Spruiell, William C
Sent: Tuesday, March 15, 2005 1:10 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: which and that
 
I've been trying to find relative examples of "but that" in some of the
corpora I have. I haven't run across a firm example yet, but I did run
across the following, which I hadn't really thought about before, and am
now wondering how to analyze (FROWN J31 134-5):
There can be no question [[but that]] this resistance emanates from his
ego ....
This doesn't seem like a relative clause to me, but it's.....relativish.

 
Bill Spruiell
Dept. of English
Central Michigan University
  _____  

From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Veit, Richard
Sent: Tuesday, March 15, 2005 9:20 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: which and that
 
Here's an example from Dickens of "as" as a relative pronoun. Sam Weller
says, "...the turnkeys takes wery good care to seize hold o' ev'ry body
but them as pays 'em..."
I'd like to see some "but" and "but that" examples.
________________________
Richard Veit
Department of English, UNCW
Wilmington, NC 28403-5947
910-962-3324
 
-----Original Message-----
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Stahlke, Herbert F.W.
Sent: Tuesday, March 15, 2005 8:51 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: which and that
 
Here's another take on relative pronouns.  I happened to be checking
Curme's Parts of Speech and Accidence this morning, on another matter
entirely, when I came across the following in a section headed "Relative
Pronouns with Antecedent":
"These relative pronouns are who, which, that, as, but, but that, but
what (colloquial), the indefinites whoever, whatever, and whichever, and
other less common forms enumerated in [his Syntax, the other part of
Curme and Kurath's A Grammar of the English Language (HFWS]."
I suspect we could get into an interesting discussion of "as", "but",
and "but that".
Herb
TEG's web site at http://ateg.org/
------------------------------------------------------------------------
------
This message may contain confidential information, and is
intended only for the use of the individual(s) to whom it
is addressed.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
------

To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web
interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select
"Join or leave the list" 
Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/ To join or leave this LISTSERV
list, please visit the list's web interface at:
http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave
the list" 
Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/ To join or leave this LISTSERV
list, please visit the list's web interface at:
http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave
the list" 
Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/ To join or leave this LISTSERV
list, please visit the list's web interface at:
http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave
the list" 
Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/ To join or leave this LISTSERV
list, please visit the list's web interface at:
http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave
the list" 
Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/

To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at:
     http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html
and select "Join or leave the list"

Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/