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

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/