Just now, I logged on to the BBC Learning English Message Board to check out if my “sample question” works. Then, I found something surprising me. That was the staff of BBC Learning English answered my “sample question” the day after I posted it. That is to say the staff of BBC Learning English are without doubt good workers.
Below is the response to my “sample question” from the good, kind BBC Learning English teacher, Low Flyer:
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Message 2 - posted by Low Flyer (U2221553) -networker,
2 Days Ago (i.e. May 5th, 2008 when I posted the original question on May 4th, 2008)
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Hello DaiwaPocari, and welcome to the boards.
I hope you can read this - my computer and yours seem to be disagreeing about some of the characters in your posting. It happens sometimes and we just have to deal with it, I think.
1. You've got it correct - both of these are good sentences. If you want, you could add 'be' to the end of the first example - "His mother won't be there, but his father might be". You don't have to though.
2. It is possible to begin a sentence with 'but', but I'd keep it for informal texts. One place I do it often is when I'm writing something that is going to be read aloud (such as a speech) - here beginning with linking words such as 'but' or 'and' helps the audience keep up with you.
In written work, though, try to avoid it. If the original idea is quite long, then you might want to make it a complete sentence so that the following sentence (beginning with 'But') is an obvious contrast to the whole idea. In both the examples you give, though, it would be clearer if you just made them a single sentence.
"It was in
3. You're definitely correct in the first two examples. I'd make a similar comment about the third as I made in number 2. I think that the 'but' isn't adding much to the second sentence. Why not begin with "Another point I'd like to make..."?
Hope that helps,
LF
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