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river1974



Joined: 20 May 2003
Posts: 525
Location: Taiwan

PostPosted: Wed Apr 26, 2006 7:53 pm    Post subject: and/but Reply with quote

Dear teachers:

(a) She uses the money to purchase mutual funds, and not shares.
(b) She uses the money to purchase mutual funds, but not shares.

What is the difference between the two, and which one is more natural? Thanks.
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lotus



Joined: 25 Jan 2004
Posts: 862

PostPosted: Wed Apr 26, 2006 10:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi river1974,

An extremely subtle difference I think.

(A) She use(d) the money to purchase mutual funds, and not (stock) shares.
(B) She use(d) the money to purchase mutual funds, but not (stock) shares.

The structure of A implies that she had a choice (or the ability) to buy either mutual funds, or stocks, or both.

The structure of B implies that she could purchase mutual funds or stocks, but not necessarily both. This structure is what we call "mutually exclusive."

If, in reality, she had enough money to buy one or the other or both, then A is probably more appropriate.

If we knew that she only had enough money to buy one or the other but not both, then B would be more appropriate.


--lotus
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river1974



Joined: 20 May 2003
Posts: 525
Location: Taiwan

PostPosted: Thu Apr 27, 2006 6:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks lotus. Your explanations are so clear that the difference between the two sentences is now clear to me. Laughing
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