Question by crazynuts: Do you know use of “all but” construction?
Example:
1. Many flights are too expensive for all but rich people.
2. I’ve all but finished the book.
3. All but David is going to attend the party.
I profusely confuse “all but” construction. Let me know how to decipher context from “all but” construction. I appreciate if you provide grammar link containing detailed discussion on this construction. Thanks.
Best answer:
Answer by He of one braincell!
This construction appears to have a 2 or 3 slightly different meanings:-
1) ‘almost, nearly’
as in: the car all but ran her down
or: I’ve all but finished the book.
or : Many flights are nearly too expensive for rich people.
http://www.wordwebonline.com/en/ALLBUT
2) but here it is given the meaning ‘scarcely, not even’
without examples (which doesn’t help!)
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/All+but
3) & here it links slightly with 1), & is a bit more literal:
‘everything except / all except’
Everyone except David is going to the party.
you could expand your other examples to become:
I’ve read every other page, everything except finish the book.
Many flights are too expensive for everyone except rich people.
but the shortest does seem to be ‘nearly’
eg. the water’s all but (nearly) gone.
hope that helps
good luck
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