4 The Edition Sentence Correction- Odds & End -Problem Set Ch 10, Q- 5, Pg 197

Hi! I am confused regarding the explanation of following question:

The negotiations between the company, the union, and the city government were initially contentious but ultimately amicable.

MGMAT explanation:
The negotiations AMONG the company, the union, and the city government were initially contentious but ultimately amicable.

I have understood the choice of AMONG instead of between; however the usage of BUT in this sentence is confusing me. PS- I am a non native English speaker, and I am yet to study idioms.

a) I have noticed But being normally used as a Coordinating conjunction; hence in this case it should have followed a comma along with a subject (negotiations) to avoid a run on sentence. How do we decipher the usage of But in these cases from run-ons?

b) Secondly, if But is being used as a Preposition, then it should have linked a noun, pronoun or a phrase. Ultimately and amicable are adjectives, so where is the noun/ pronoun in this case?
The only appropriate useage that I can think of But in this case is that of Adverb..
c) Thirdly, Are we better of using Although (or other subordinator) at the beginning of the sentence and a comma with a subject instead of BUT? Both contentious and amicable are antonyms; thus they justify a subordinator.

Eg.: Although the negotiations AMONG the company, the union, and the city government were initially contentious, the negotiations were ultimately amicable. (Will this sentence fail for concision?)

Thanks,
Sid

Hi Sid ,
''BUT' is a coordinating conjunction and rightly used here...there has no run on case as there has explicit mention of two different time 'initially & ultimately ' . But can simply be used as to reverse the meaning or opposite the meaning. 'he is slow but steady ' .
Although can not help a meaning to take a 'U' turn but 'BUT' can.
Never worry too much with comma',' , GMAT does not test that .

Pranab.

Pranab thanks for your insights; however I am still not convinced. I would agree that I had learned similar usage (BUT for u-turn); however Manhattan GMAT 4th edition on page number 189 says that a Coordinating conjunction allows two main clauses to coexist peacefully as equals and subordinators on other hand act as partisans... ... Let me know your take on it?

In the mean time I would really appreciate if a Manhattan GMAT instructor could reign in and clarify?

I think I went too overboard with Coordinating conjunctions and comma.. I was looking at OGMAT 11th edition Question number 9, they have used "but" as a conjunction without a comma.
The OGMAT question is:
Subspots, Vortices of gas associated with strong electromagnetic activity, are visible as dark spots on the surface of the Sun but have never been sighted on the Sun's pole or equator.

Answer is A, so the sentence is correct. The explanation further says, "The contrast itself is indicated by the conjunction but."

Thanks,
Sid

you have brought up three issues around use of the word "but" in this sentence: prepositions, idioms, and joining of two independent clauses. all three are 100% irrelevant here. you do not need a comma to join a pair of two word phrases with the word "but". when you are looking at parallelism in a sentence, don't try to rewrite the sentence in your mind. just look at what's on the page and decide whether there is anything wrong with it. in this case there is not..

_________________
Tim Sanders
Manhattan GMAT Instructor