cannot but X, can't help but X, not X, but Y, etc.

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Mxsmanic - 23 Jan 2010 07:54 GMT

I don't remember the rules for these very well. Can someone tell me which, if
any, of these constructions is incorrect, and why?

1. We cannot but do this.
2. We cannot help but do this.
3. We cannot help doing this.
4. We do not do X, but Y.

I recall that there were some complicated rules for the first three, but I
don't remember what they are, and now I'm wondering about (4) as well.

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Eric Walker - 23 Jan 2010 09:51 GMT

> I don't remember the rules for these very well. Can someone tell me
> which, if any, of these constructions is incorrect, and why?
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
> I recall that there were some complicated rules for the first three, but
> I don't remember what they are, and now I'm wondering about (4) as well.

It is a curiosity of idiomatic English that "We can but do this" and "We
cannot but do this" mean the same thing: we have no choice save to do
this thing. The expanded forms of the ellipses are "We can [do nothing
else] but do this" and "We cannot [do anything else] but do this".

The rest of the forms are routine.

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Cordially,
Eric Walker, Owlcroft House
http://owlcroft.com/english/

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CDB - 23 Jan 2010 23:10 GMT

>> I don't remember the rules for these very well. Can someone tell me
>> which, if any, of these constructions is incorrect, and why?
[quoted text clipped - 15 lines]
>
> The rest of the forms are routine.

I agree with your interpretations, but I'm not sure "but" is a
conjunction in both examples. It's simpler to read "We can but do
this," as "We can only do this," and "only" is a recognised meaning
for "but". "He but usurped his life."

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Discussion Groups / English Usage / January 2010

cannot but X, can't help but X, not X, but Y, etc.