Post Aa4KptiCTavZB5TY92 by vlk@mastodon.social
 (DIR) More posts by vlk@mastodon.social
 (DIR) Post #Aa4K1a7r1VbBx9Tyy0 by vlk@mastodon.social
       2023-09-23T17:59:08Z
       
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       @grammargirl Help, please, to find examples of and to explain the "Y, but Y" rhetorical construction!  I had a sentence in a newsletter saying how someone was not getting enough credit for work when *** all, but all, *** of what we do now is based on their work.  But it was unfamiliar to the editor, a native English speaker!  I couldn't explain the reasoning behind it other than that I could swear it was widely used!  I tried to search for examples, but it is hard to know what to search for.
       
 (DIR) Post #Aa4K1c9LUvyqEMCCZM by grammargirl@zirk.us
       2023-09-23T19:41:31Z
       
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       @vlk I can't say I've never heard that construction, but it does sound uncommon to me. I'll try to remember to look in the OED when I'm back at my computer.
       
 (DIR) Post #Aa4K1d7bssBbFGOKVE by vlk@mastodon.social
       2023-09-23T18:02:10Z
       
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       @grammargirl I did find one other example through a web search -- "never, but never, question the Engineer" -- but no explanations of why, but why, is "but" the reinforcing glue word.
       
 (DIR) Post #Aa4KptiCTavZB5TY92 by vlk@mastodon.social
       2023-09-23T19:50:38Z
       
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       @grammargirl Thank you.I did find a few more instances, notably of "always, but always," but buried in texts and used as just a throwaway phrase.  None, but none, offered an explanation.
       
 (DIR) Post #Aa4VpIrqYu4WP1uI2C by grammargirl@zirk.us
       2023-09-23T21:53:48Z
       
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       @vlk I found it! The Oxford English Dictionary has that use going back to 1920.
       
 (DIR) Post #Aa5zoMvr9iGmVDDFse by vlk@mastodon.social
       2023-09-24T15:04:26Z
       
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       @grammargirl Thanks!The evolution in the structure from 1920 to 2005 gives a clue perhaps -- there are supposed to be other contextualizing words that are subsumed in the later version for the sake of brevity.  Though I can't quite figure out how to expand the latter to make it look like the former!