All but One?

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The awkward case of 'his or her'. Identify the word pairs with a common ancestor. Test your knowledge - and maybe learn something along the way. Definition of all but. Synonyms for all but Synonyms about , almost , borderline , fair [ chiefly British ] , fairly , feckly [ chiefly Scottish ] , more or less , most , much , near , nearly , next to , nigh , practically , somewhere , virtually , well-nigh Visit the Thesaurus for More.

Examples of all but in a Sentence Without you the job would have been all but impossible. We had all but given up hope. First Known Use of all but , in the meaning defined above. Learn More about all but. Resources for all but Time Traveler! Explore the year a word first appeared. Dictionary Entries near all but alla zingara alla zoppa all bets are off all but all but certain to all by one's lonesome all choked up. Statistics for all but Look-up Popularity. A mere pages. It doesn't suggest the opposite of what it says So, "all but wiped out" means "everything except wiped out" eg.

There are more direct ways to express that meaning. Personally, I trip over a sentence containing that expression every time. Also, I've only seen this in writing but don't remember hearing it spoken I record lectures for radio on a frequent basis. To me that indicates speakers of English are not too fond of it.

Well, for one thing, you didn't phrase it in the form of a question. As far as the construction mentioned This is really a forum about understanding the grey areas, inconsistencies, variations in usage, and problems of the English language. There are many other fora for complaining about such things, or for relating personal English-language pet peeves, and it would be a shame to see this otherwise useful forum to devolve into that.

An ideal example of an appropriate post is one that asks people to explain some grammatical or lexical feature of the English language, or to explain the reasoning behind some such grammatical principle or rule. Most of the posts here do that, but yours is not a request for some sort of explanation; it is simply a complaint. Having complained about your complaint, I'd like to mention that I do hear "all but" from time to time and I even use it myself , so its usage may vary from region to region or social circle to social circle.

It's a pretty sensible expression a little on the colorful side, but that's true for any idiomatic expression, in English or in any other language , as it essentially means what it states, as Camryn pointed out.

That is to say, "all but wiped out" puts more emphasis on the people that have not been wiped out than "almost entirely wiped out" does. There's a cousin phrase to "all but" that isn't quite as common: So I'm not entirely clear whether the particular phrase "all but," which is not an exceptional case in the English language by any means, is a pet peeve of yours, or whether, underneath it all, you are really waging a war with idiomatic expressions in general.

Interesting that none of your examples use quantity. Speedwell, "practically" is certainly overused to the point of being a buzzword, but it really does make sense if you think of "practically" as meaning good enough for practical purposes but not necessarily proper or correct. I imagine the commonly used "virtually" would be even more annnoying.

And how about "for all intents and purposes"? Gee, Jun-Dai, what exactly is the problem? To me, the nature of Martin's post fits your definition of "understanding the grey areas, inconsistencies, variations in usage, and problems of the English language" EXACTLY!! What is this, Jepoardy? Is Alex Trebec going to say, "Oooh, sorry, you didn't phrase it in question form"? If I may quote the late Ann Landers, "quitcherbeefin! Some people, like this Jun-Dai guy are so caught up in the rituals and the rules, they forget the point.

Let the moderators nick-pick about thread discussions. If you don't like it, STFU and cry to your momma. My Personal favorite english oddity: Using "these" and "they" in the same sentance. I don't know why. It seems wrong, but it's not! I think the question of whether the phrase "all but" denotes "nearly" i. As has been demonstrated above, this latter, subjective understanding of the phrase "all but" is hardly attested in the phrase's usage.

A second point in reference to the "Anonymous" comment above: I agree that your example and the preceding examples are similar but not equivalent as far as the phrase "all but" is concerned.

The distinction "adjectival" versus "adverbial" explains many and sundry grammatical issues. Latin and Greek grammarians see A. I'm fascinated by the idea that came to me that this person was expressing a peeve about a completely legitimate English construction and implying that it should not ever be there. Admittedly, we all feel that way about some NEW construction, but new constructions are admittedly in the gray area.

I'm obviously having some sort of hormonally imbalanced day, but what it translated into was "Let's get rid of these complicated English forms that I can't understand. For what it's worth, I always took 'all but' to mean the opposite of what people who use the term intend to say. So when someone says "they were all but wiped out", usually the context around the statement will clarify that the user intended to say "they were completely wiped out".

Which is not what I heard them say when thet said "the were all but wiped out". In short, I agree with Martin and conclude that this is an expression that is misunderstood by most who use it, and consequently they misuse it. May be some of these linguist guys have got their heads stuck up somewhere. Just try to look at it from a 'natural' perspective. And ofcourse, this is not a campaign to abolish this term from the English language, just a discussion about "pain in the english" which is what the name of this site is, why dont those guys get it?

I am purplexed as to why the MS Word grammar check insists on my using "is" after "all but one" rather than "are. I would not say, "all is interested. Why wouldn't it be "all but one are interested"? Is the Microsoft grammar check mistaken, or am I? Hence adverbially Almost, very nearly, well nigh, also with hyphen used adj. I am working on a book and used it in a paragraph. When I read it later, I wondered--what does that mean, exactly?

I had used it instinctively based on other usages in I'd read and heard. When I looked it up, I initially found this thread--very interesting in terms of questions about usage But when in doubt, turn to the Oxford English Dictionary for precision rather than conjecture or opinion I do not, however, think that you can convincingly argue that it means the opposite of something I think "cees" pinned the tail on the donkey. I have found that many people who use "all but" actually mean "completely" or "totally," and do not understand the literal meaning of the term in question.

Then others turn around and use it incorrectly themselves, causing the vexation that started this thread in the first place.

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I have never liked using "all but" for all the confusion it brings. The clearest way of putting the problem in my mind in this: The literal meaning of 'all but' is 'everything except,' but that is not what is meant. My boss' constant nagging made the job all but impossible. We should 'eschew' it - don't you think? I was searching for the origin of this phrase, because I agree with many of you that it is a poor construction since it can have two opposite meanings.

As we know, "Almost finished" and "Not finished" have nearly opposing definitions, therefore proving the construction "all but If some process or some piece of work is missing even one iota from being finished, then it is NOT finished. It could still be "almost finished". You could suffer dearly from that missing stitch. You could bleed a lot. The reasonable verdict would be "Guilty of medical malpractice.

“all but” - I hate that expression!

In fact the Free dictionary gives two meanings - everything or everybody except and almost. Ironically Jun-Dai seems to have got closest to the mark. It's an idiom, it doesn't need to be analysed to death. And like scyllacat I suspect, I've never experienced the slightest misunderstanding when either using or hearing it. What's more, it was good enough for Shakespeare, apparently.

And Rich, if 'I'm all but finished', technically speaking yes it's true that I haven't quite finished yet that's the only way I can see how 'all but' can mean 'not'. But the implied meaning is very different from 'I'm not finished' - Consider you're on a long boring walk - 'We're all but there' would be quite positive, while 'We're not there' would be rather negative. I don't really think you've proved anything to be terrible.: I was just watching a documentary, the narrator explained how a person "purchased all but 8 cents of his salary in war bonds".

This is a prime example why this expression is problematic. Did the person use all his money to buy bonds with the exception of 8 cents which he used for something else? I understand that it is the latter. But as a translator, I tend to use the first grammatical construct because it is a very common one in Spanish. I cannot use the words "all but" because they would be interpreted to be used as an idiomatic expression and not in their literal meaning. I figure I could say: The person spent all his money on bonds except for 8 cents. This format takes away the emphasis of the original sentence, which focuses on the large amount expended on bonds and shifts the emphasis onto the 8 cents NOT used for the purchase of the bonds.

So the reader is not getting the intended purpose, the emotional emphasis, of the writer. This idiomatic expression stops me from using a very common form in Spanish and forces me to give wordy explanations or unfit alternatives.

All but one

Lost in the translation, you might say. Are you sure you didn't mishear? I don't really see how can you purchase part of your salary? Surely he spent all but 8 cents of his salary on war bonds, or he invested all but 8 cents of his salary in war bonds. But either way it's clear - this is surely a metaphorical 8 cents - in other words he used almost all his salary - everything except 8 cents - to buy bonds. When it means almost, as in "he all but killed me" it is really like saying "everything except". There is no real ambiguity between the two uses.

I don't see how it could possibly mean "almost 8 cents" here - I think buying 8 cents worth of bonds might be a bit tricky. It was all but impossible to read his writing. He all but knocked me senseless. We'd all but arrived there when the accident happened. In these examples, "all but" always seems to be followed by an adjective, adverb or verb, never by a noun, pronoun or number. They've gone to the pub. He spent all but eight cents.

But in the "everything except" meaning, it is always followed by a noun, pronoun or number, as in your example. It could also be replaced by "bar" - "All bar one". And a strange one - "All but Over, Except for the Shouting", presumably a play on the more usual - "It's all over bar the shouting". Sorry, that doesn't really solve your translation problem though. Incidentally, just to get more confusing, "but" also used to mean "only":. The mouse that has but one hole is quickly taken.

Something strange happened in that first sentence - it should of course have read - I don't really see how you can purchase Unfortunately there are a couple of other typos as well. With all but a monumental collapse now standing between Manchester United and a record 20th league title, all eyes turn to who will win the fight between the also rans for second place. Oh, Warsaw Will, I agree with you emphatically. Actually, it isn't even English, but rather it is gibberish. By the way, "The Sun writes" is also nonsense.

Whatever the "Sun" did, it was sometime in the past, so either the past tense or the present perfect tense is required. So, "the Sun wrote". Actually, it is probably more correct to state "the Sun printed". However, the "Sun" is a corporation, and corporations are incapable of doing anything like these things.

So, in truth, "the employees of the Sun wrote" or "the employees of the Sun have been writing". I have aslo seen weird statements like "John Jones writes" or "John Jones says", when in reality, John Jones has been dead for several years, hence he does not say or write anything at all anymore. Likewise, Winston Churchill says or writes nothing at all anymore. Here are some example: The Houses of Parliament stand in London. A large statue of Abraham Lincoln sits in Washington, D. The Moon orbits the Earth once every 29 days. It is doing so right now.

This was definitely an event in the past. This is quite standard English and is sometimes referred to as the historic present:. In conversation, it is particularly common with 'verbs of communication' such as tell, write, and say" Wikipedia. On your second point, to take your logic to its extreme, we would need to say something like "In an editorial yesterday, the editorial writers of the Times stated that bla bla bla Apart from "it is doing so right now", which is in Present Continuous or Progressive , none of your examples, the rest of which are in Present Simple, are in fact about right now.

The moon has been orbiting the Earth for millions of year and hopefully will continue to do so for millions more. But what's happening in Parliament right now, I don't know. I'm afraid you're confusing your tenses or at least aspects: Present Simple is used for things that are always or generally true or are regularly repeated, especially with expressions of frequency like "every 29 days".

It's Present Continuous or Progressive that's used for right now. Right now I'm writing this comment, not right now I write this comment. In any case we don't use present tenses to talk exclusively about the the present; they're also used to talk about the future:. Tomorrow afternoon, I'm meeting my cousin off the train. So if you're going to give me a lecture on tense use, it might be a good idea to have a look at a grammar book first. I don't need a grammar book in English because my mother was a professional teacher of American English for several decades.

I learned from her. No, not "In an editorial yesterday, the editorial writers of the Times stated that bla bla bla" but rather, "In an editorial yesterday, the editors of the Times stated bla bla bla" The people who write editorials are called "editors" - but once again we are getting into the superiority of North American English which includes Candian English, don't forget. In American English, we say that a short buiding "sits" somewhere, but a tall building strands somewhere. So, do not get confused about the Houses of Parliament buildings sitting along the Thames, and the House of Commons a group of people sitting for a meeting.

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Concerning the monuments of Washington, D. Also, the Lincoln Memorial and the Jefferson Memorial sit along the Potomac River, but it is not possible for the Washington Monument to do anything but stand. When this monument was completed, it was the world's tallest structure, surpassing the Great Pyramid of Egypt, and it remained the world's tallest structure until it was surpassed by a cathedral in Germany. Then, a few years later, that was surpassed by the Eiffel Tower. Some say that the Washington Monument is still the world's tallest stone structure because it does not have a metal framework at all.

On the other hand, is the tallest one the cathedral in Germany? Or does that one have some metal framework? It is hard to find out because there are so many erroneous sources out there. Some of them do not mention the Washington Monument or the cathedral at all. It is not necessary to use the present progressive form, though that is the more common way. I have read of a noteworthy play maybe one of Shakespeare's in which a character says, "I die.

It does not matter that they have done so for billions of years, and that they will do so for billions of years into the future, because my sentences tell of the situation right now. As for the Moon, even if the weather is bad over the entire continent, and nobody there can see the Moon in its orbit, we can measure its presense can its movement by radar. We know what it is doing. On the other hand, I have read a book of "Noteworthy Last Words".

In it, there is the story of a physician who was seriously ill. From time to time, he was taking his own pulse - until one time when he said "Stopped," and that was the end of the his life. He was using the word "stopped" as an adjective, but that means "right now". Also, I have read that during the latter part of the s, a criminal in England was taken to the gallows to be hanged. He was standing on the trap door with the noose around his neck.

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Then he decided to make a final declaration, but that was just as the trap sprung. HIs last words were supposedly, "I am J" as the noose tightened around his neck. People have speculated that he intended to say, "I am Jack the Ripper. He did not intend to say, "I was Jack the Ripper.

Unfortunately I can't claim to have had a mother who was a teacher, but I can claim to be one myself. Putting aside your insults to British English, which of course are just a lot of prejudiced nonsense, I'll try and answer your points one by one:. Editorials - as far as I'm aware these are rarely written by the editor in person, but by a group of editorial staff, especially if the editorial is not the first leader. But anyway, apart from your good self, most of us wouldn't mention the person or people. That was my point.

Here area a few example I got by googling "in an editorial the times said":. A building sits or stands somewhere - I don't know why you think this is specifically American; we do the same. But that wasn't the problem.

When you said that the Houses of Parliament stand in London, that's about general time, not necessarily about right now. And when you did use the words "right now" to talk about the moon, you rightly went into Present progressive, "It is doing so now", because "It does so right now" would have been ungrammatical. I have to tell you that "Right now I write this comment," would be marked wrong in any English Certificate exam for foreign learners. Shakespeare and other writers are allowed poetic licence.

As for your famous last words bit, when talking about existence, the verb "to be" is a stative verb and not used in the progressive form, so you are right there, but this is not true with most verbs. To be honest, your verbs "sit" and "stand" in your meaning were also stative. I said they were bad examples not because the grammar wasn't correct, but because "right now" is not the main use of Present simple; it can only work with stative verbs. And stative verbs, by their very nature, describe states: C", sounds the sort of thing you might read in a guide book.

Yes, it is there right now, but it was also there yesterday and it will be there tomorrow. This is about a fairly permanent state of affairs.

And the criminal was still alive just , so of course he would say "I am" - this is an existential "I am". It no doubt explains it better than I am doing:. I notice you've said nothing about historical present or present tenses being used for future reference, so perhaps you now accept them. I have a hard time understanding that the statue of Abraham Lincoln sits in Washington, D. What is so hard about this? I could recommend that you look up photographs of the interior of the Lincoln Memorial.

You can find these on the Internet. Notice that "you look" is in the present tense.

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