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JD
 
 

people have discovered the principles of solar energy

by JD Wed Sep 24, 2008 1:53 pm

ople have discovered the principles of solar energy whenever fuel becomes scarce and expensive but will forget them every time a new source of cheap energy is developed.


(A) have discovered the principles of solar energy whenever fuel becomes scarce and expensive but will forget
(B) have discovered the principles of solar energy whenever fuel has become scarce and expensive but they forget
(C) discovered the principles of solar energy every time fuel becomes scarce and expensive, forgetting
(D) discover the principles of solar energy every time fuel became scarce and expensive, but they forget
(E) discover the principles of solar energy whenever fuel becomes scarce and expensive but forget

I know the correct answer is E. However, I need someone to clarify something. I always thought BUT is a coordinatin conjuction and should connect 2 independent clauses. In E, the sentence leaves out THEY which leaves the second clause without a subject. How can this be?

Anyone...?
RonPurewal
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Joined: Tue Aug 14, 2007 8:23 am
 

by RonPurewal Wed Oct 22, 2008 7:12 am

1st, i'm going to move this thread to the general verbal section, where it belongs.

2nd, when you have general questions like this one, you're honestly better off consulting the myriad usage guides that abound on the internet. you'll be able to get MUCH more detailed information than we could possibly post here, and with essentially instant turnaround time (just long enough for you to do a couple of searches).
if you have specialist questions that are very particular, then this is the place to go. for something as general as the function of the word 'but', though, the web is a pretty awesome resource.

--

nevertheless:

BUT actually works a lot like AND.

it CAN connect 2 completely independent clauses, but, generally, that only happens when the 2 clauses have different subjects. (the sentence that you just finished reading is a good example - and i didn't even do that on purpose.) this is pretty much the same way with AND.
if the subject of the 2 clauses is the same, as in the example sentence you've posted, then the second subject is omitted, for NOT omitting the second subject would amount to unnecessary wordiness.

finally, let it be noted that 'but (also)' can be paired with 'not (only)' to create a parallel structure that can connect things as small as single nouns: i ate not sushi but teriyaki.