I have another student-generated sentence that's causing me problems.  Her
essay categorizes types of people that she sees in church.  The sentence in
quesiton is the topic sentence for one of her categories.  I know what is
needed, but I'm not sure why:

Another type of people you can regularly meet in churches is sinful people,*
* not that we are all walking angels, but these people are the ones who sin
and realize they do.

I know that either a period or a semi-colon is needed after "sinful
people."  However, when I examine the structure of the sentence, I see two
independent clauses joined by "but."  I see a semantic problem:  the
contrast inherent in "but" is not between the two independent clauses, but
is between the final two clauses.  Does this sentence straddle the boundary
between syntax and semantics?  Or can the problem be described from a purely
grammatical perspective?

Thanks,
John

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