Dropping the but

[ckatt]

Do you get a different feeling from the addition or omission of "but"? If so, how would you describe it?
I know the larger context would also have an effect and these are just some discounted examples but bear with me.
I almost put his in grammar but I'm more interested in the effect it would have on the reader than what's propper usage.
Here are some examples:

I ran out into the garden in search of the life-giving herb. It was too dark to see.
I ran out into the garden in search of the life-giving herb, but it was too dark to see.

Evan's mother had warned him about talking to the miners alone. He didn't think they would hurt him.
Evan's mother had warned him about talking to the miners alone, but he didn't think they would hurt him.

I'm not trying to poll on what people think is better or worse, just what you feel the effect of using but or not is. If you can think of other unique situations please share.

 

[AnRoinnUltra]

I think the effect is to drive a story on.
It's not always easy to avoid.
In my opinion leaving it out can make writing look simple.
This can be a good thing.
I think it's because it prompts you to pause.
Sometimes a break can be good.
But I try to avoid using it.

 

[HareBrain]

It connects the two sentences. If it's absent, the reader will still make the connection, but it takes work and time (even if only a fraction of a second). This creates a slight stumble.

 

[Christine Wheelwright]

I'm not sure it makes a huge difference in the examples you give. But sometimes I would use a separate sentence for emphasis or to build tension.

For example:

As the dogs got ever closer, he tried again to turn the key in the lock, using all his strength. The key snapped!

So using 'but' would tend to make it sound a little more 'matter of fact'. Giving it its own sentence makes it stand out as a pivotal moment.

 

[Pyan]

It can give a sense of contrariness, or disappointment, I think.

I opened my first present eagerly. It was a tie. Two straightforward statements, no real further information.

I opened my first present eagerly, but it was a tie. A bit of a let-down, a tie is a boring present and I expected better.

 

[Swank]

It might also be pointed out that this kind of set up isn't actually necessary. It is a kind of discount drama, where something would be positive but is reversed in the next sentence. Is it necessary at all? Is it good writing? I think it comes off a little like a sarcastic reply, which is a discount joke.

It was too dark to look in the garden for the life giving herbs.
He didn't think the miners his mother warned him about would hurt him.
My first eagerly-opened present was a tie.
The key snapped in the lock as I turned it with all my strength.

I don't think people actually have "buts" in the experience of life. They are a storytelling shortcut to make you see a situation as having a kind of fate, when in the moment we don't see things that way.

 

[ckatt]

It might also be pointed out that this kind of set up isn't actually necessary

Are you suggesting that compound sentences with "but" are best avoided altogether?

 

[Swank]

Are you suggesting that compound sentences with "but" are best avoided altogether?

I'm suggesting that the presentation of ideas or events in this binary order might best be avoided, whether you use "but" or not. I don't think real life feels like "This happened. Then this countered it." The way we experience events is more all at once, and we don't appreciate the contrast between warning and reality or hope and failure in the one, two way we like to write these kind of sentences. "But" sentences and similar are more of a dramatic flourish used to make simple drama out of otherwise straightforward events/ideas by adding a pause between moments that is artificial and for contrast.

So yes, I'd recommend to consider avoiding. What you end up with will likely read more maturely with the contrasting conflict all in one idea rather than divided into a seeming cause and effect. "But" is the contrarian "then" or "and". It works a little like a one-liner joke does, building up and then dashing with the unexpected. It's just that novels shouldn't be full of one-liners.

If you don't care for these sentences, why would you want the "but" version?
Mother warned me about bandits, and they robbed me.
I ran into the garden for herbs, then found some.
I turned the key with all force, then it unlocked.

 

[ckatt]

@Swank So you don"t see room for other uses of this type of sentence? I think there could be a larger range of effects achieved which is why I ask the question. The examples here were just off the cuff. Maybe they come off as one-liners because they are just one line. I'd think in a larger context the effect could be more nuanced than that. No?

 

[Swank]

@Swank So you don"t see room for other uses of this type of sentence? I think there could be a larger range of effects achieved which is why I ask the question. The examples here were just off the cuff. Maybe they come off as one-liners because they are just one line. I'd think in a larger context the effect could be more nuanced than that. No?

I was hoping that the contrast contained in but type sentences covered events and ideas. That's pretty all encompassing.


Which is not to say that I've thought of every possible but situation, but it would be fun to see if my idea has broad applicability. Post some others and we'll see.

However, I am fairly confident when I say that sentences structured as in the examples feel more juvenile than the simplified versions I wrote.

 

[Justin Swanton]

Language is an art, not a science, which means it's always possible to bend or even break the rules of grammar if it has an effect that the reader grasps. The rules are guidelines to clarity, not laws of physics.

I left a hundred corpses to prove I'm the fastest gunslinger in the West. But the fool did insist on trying his luck.

You're not supposed to start a sentence with 'but,' but 'But' works here. ;-) Whether or not to use 'but' really depends on the context and the effect or nuance you're trying to create. There's no universal rule about it like there's no universal rule about anything.

 

[ckatt]

I am fairly confident when I say that sentences structured as in the examples feel more juvenile than the simplified versions I wrote.

I wouldn't focus on the examples that way. This isn't the critique forum. I was just hoping people would share their thoughts on making sentences that way. It's a thing I see done often enough.

 

[ckatt]

@Justin Swanton
so I guess then I would ask what's the different sensation you might get from:
I left a hundred corpses to prove I'm the fastest gunslinger in the West. The fool did insist on trying his luck.

Maybe there's too much of a disconnect for it to work?

 

[Pyan]

Perhaps the use of but shows a certain pessimism in life, but I do tend to think it quite often (see what I did there? )
The use of but as a conjunction definitely modifies the next sentence or phrase, often in a negative manner.

I was going for a walk. It started to rain is simply an observation.
I was going to go for a walk, but it started to rain suggests that I was put off by the weather.

The Latin interrogative particle Num... expects the answer No in the same manner. Num dubium est? - There is no doubt, is there? The straight question uses -ne instead: Dubiumne est? - Is there any doubt?

 

[Swank]

I wouldn't focus on the examples that way. This isn't the critique forum. I was just hoping people would share their thoughts on making sentences that way. It's a thing I see done often enough.

I wasn't critiquing as much as offering a third option and explaining its appeal. You are welcome to ignore my suggestion.

 

[Swank]

Perhaps the use of but shows a certain pessimism in life, but I do tend to think it quite often (see what I did there? )

I meant something very similar when I invoked "fate" as an adjunct of the "but".

 

[ckatt]

@Pyan
Ok, how about when we aren't setting up an expectation?
i.e.
I was ready to give up. We had been searching all night, but we found nothing.

I was ready to give up. We had been searching all night. We found nothing.

Here, I think the first sentence has already implied the result.

For me, the version without the but sounds worse, like the speaker is more defeated

 

[Pyan]

Doesn't the order of the phrases change the expectation as well?

I was ready to give up. We had been searching all night. We found nothing.
is subtly different to:
We had been searching all night. We found nothing. I was ready to give up. (But...!).
A case where but wouldn't be a negative conjunction. That's why I said often in a negative manner, not always. (above).

It's an endlessly fascinating subject!

 

[Justin Swanton]

@Justin Swanton
so I guess then I would ask what's the different sensation you might get from:
I left a hundred corpses to prove I'm the fastest gunslinger in the West. The fool did insist on trying his luck.

Maybe there's too much of a disconnect for it to work?

The nuance here could be that the fool did not waste time thinking about the fact that he was up against a superior opponent, but jumped right in. No time even for a but. Would the reader pick that up?

 

[The Big Peat]

Great topic. This sort of thing really matters. To me, something like

I ran out into the garden in search of the life-giving herb. It was too dark to see.

Has a clipped quality to it. It makes good dialogue for a laconic character, or one that's tired and not able to give more than the barebones, or who's in a situation where they're overwhelmed and struggling to take much in. I think you'll see writers use this for action scenes a lot.

I think pyan's done a fantastic job of showing how but modifies sentences.

I would add that it changes my expectation for the following sentences maybe too. "but it was too dark to see" sounds like someone realising their plan wouldn't work, so jumping right into what they do makes sense. But with "it was too dark to see", I think I'm maybe expecting them to do some thinking in the next sentence. Something like.

I ran out into the garden in search of the life-giving herb, but it was too dark to see.
"Fetch me a lantern," I shouted.

I ran out into the garden in search of the live-giving herb. It was too dark to see. I needed a light. I needed to calm down and start thinking.


Yeah, you could easily transfer the bits I added to the others... but that's what suggested itself to me from the voice.


I think in summation - and this is just me - I'd never drop buts entirely as prose that doesn't use them at all can feel too simple and too much work, but there's definitely a place for prose that doesn't use them much. Just a matter of finding what it means to you, and where you want to use them.

Me, myself, I like buts. I like the flow and reversal of thought they offer. Not for everything, but most of my work uses a lot of buts. Possibly too many. Indeed, one might say I like big buts and cannot lie.