Abstract:“But” is a very common word in English with a lot of meanings. It is no doubt that there is a “but” in each essay. However, its usages are rather complicated: it has different meanings when used as a conjunction, a preposition, an adverb, a pronoun and a noun respectively. When used as a conjunction, “but” could be translated into “但是, 然而, 而是”; when used as a preposition, it could be translated into “除了, 除了…之外”; when used as an adverb, it could be translated into “只, 仅仅, 不过”, or “几乎, 差不多”, or “彻底地, 完全地”; when used as a pronoun, it has a negative meaning; when used as a noun, it could be translated into “异议” or “反对”. “But” can be collocated with other structures as well.
The diversities of the usages make us quite difficult to understand, to use and to translate it correctly. This essay is based on these five parts of speech and will give a clear explanation of the usages of “but” with examples, as well as its translations.
Key Words: but; usage; meaning; translation
中文摘要:在英语中，but是一个十分常用的词，含有丰富的词义，不夸张地说，每篇文章都有它。但其用法非常复杂，它既可以用作连词、介词、副词、代词和名词，又可以与其它词或者结构搭配使用，表示各种不同的意思。当but作为连词时，它表示“但是，然而，而是”是意思；当but作为介词时，它表示“出来，除了…之外”；当but作为副词时，它表示“只，仅仅，不过”，或者“几乎，差不多”，或者“彻底地，完全地”的意思；当but作为代词时，它具有表否定的含义；当but作为名词时，它表示“异议”或“反对”的意思。
正由于其用法的多样性，这使得我们在学习英语时较难正确理解、运用和翻译它。本文将根据此词的五种词性，分别论述其用法并释以例句加以说明。
关键词：But；用法；意思；翻译
