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Jason老師教英文大口訣：假設語氣四大例外用法口訣
口訣：
Were it not for
Had it not been for
But for
But that
都等於 If not for 或是 if it were not for.....

But for the defendant's act, would the result have happened?

"But for" 的意思是什麼呢？

"But for" 其實相當於 "if it were not for" 或 "if it had not been for"。中文可以翻譯作「如果不是....的話」。

還記得 conditional sentences type 2 和 type 3 嗎？

簡單來說，conditional sentences type 2 的 pattern 是：

If + past tense, would/should/could + verb.

而 conditional sentences type 3 的 pattern 則是：

If + past perfect tense, perfect conditional.

「But for 句子」其實是 conditional sentences 的一種。有些時候它可以取代 type 2 和 type 3 句子。

譬如說現在正在下雨。我想說「如果現在沒有下雨的話，我會去購物。」：

If it weren't for the rain, I would go shopping. (Type 2)
Were it not for the rain, I would go shopping. (Type 2)

這時我們可以用 "but for" 去取代 "if it weren't for" 或 "were it not for"：

But for the rain, I would go shopping.

看看另一個例子。假如我想說「要不是有你陪伴，我會感到煩悶。」：

If it weren't for your company, I would feel bored. (Type 2)
Were it not for your company, I would feel bored. (Type 2)

現在用 "but for" 作為句子開始部分：

But for your company, I would feel bored.

上面的例子所說的都是現在的情況。如果我們想表達過去的情況呢？

譬如說上星期的某天是下雨天。我想說「如果當日沒有下雨的話，我會去購物。」：

If it hadn't been for the rain, I would have gone shopping. (Type 3)
Had it not been for the rain, I would have gone shopping. (Type 3)

現在再一次用 "but for" 作為句子開始部分：

But for the rain, I would have gone shopping.

如果我想說「當日假若沒有你的經濟援助，我早就破產了。」：

If it hadn't been for your financial support, I would have gone bankrupt. (Type 3)
Had it not been for your financial support, I would have gone bankrupt. (Type 3)

用 "but for" 開始句子：

But for your financial support, I would have gone bankrupt.