There is no man but would give ten yeasr of his life to

Question

There is  no man but would give  ten yeasr of his life to accomplish that deed.

B no man but who would give
C no man who would but give
D not any man would give

Please explain the answer...

anandnk · Answer

A seems Ok
But is a conjunction seperating two clauses.

vivek_dj · Answer

A does not seem right to me...I would like to go for C.

Shouldn't man...be followed by a 'who'

Vivek.

ashwyns · Answer

Think C.

no man who would but give 

but = not. So, complete the sentence.. first as

There is no man who would give ten years of his life to accomplish that deed. 

To negate it, add "but".

Zhung Gazi · Answer

Here is the analysis

There is no man but   would give ten yeasr of his life to accomplish that deed. 

= Everybody would give ten years of his life to accomplish that deed  with implicit "if asked" 

B and C change the meaning of A.
D is structually incorrect.

BTW, but is a preposition in this case.

stoolfi · Answer

I've spoken English for 27 years, and read thousands of books. There is no flipping way that A is the right answer.

Maybe you can find test prep material that says that A is correct, but if a sentence like that ever winds up on the GMAT, I'll eat my hat.

I vote for "typo".

Zhung Gazi · Answer

That is an archaic usage. 

p.276 of Modern English: A Practical Reference Guide by Marcella Frank, Regents/Prentice Hall, 1992.

 

but(literary usage--appears after a negative verb and is itself negative)

There is not one of us   but   would   (=who would not)   find the work difficult.

 

Samples from Google:

1. there is no man but would be ashamed to be thought not to have as much of it as his neighbours.
2. there is no man but would recognise that he was beautiful
3. there is no man but would diligently pursue pleasure by right or wrong.
4. So humble that no man but would say тАЬNoтАЭ to such bidding if he dare.

stoolfi · Answer

This website  https://www.gmac.com/gmac/TheGMAT/WhatIstheGMAT/WhattheGMATMeasures.htm  states that the GMAT tests  Standard Written English. 

I believe you'll have a tough time making a valid argument that the "archaic" usage suggested in this question fits within SWE.

I don't mean to discourage anyone from posting or participating, but efforts, IMO, ought to be focused  away  from questions like this one.

fundy11 · Answer

Stoolfi, I agree with you.

- native english speaker.

Zhung Gazi · Answer

BTW, I dont wanna twist the argument(native, archaic != SWE) Please be advised to check whether the question posted is from ETS material. Archaic does not mean outdated. You can find many examples in modern literature and legalese too.

kanu · Answer

Well My friends the official ans is A..... n i think Zhung Gazi was able to explain his stand.. but i shud admit that i'm still confused with the usage of 'BUT' :hammer

Zhung Gazi · Answer

"but" is a preposition in this case. but = save = except but(adverb) = merely, just, only regarding "can but" vs. "cannot but" check https://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=cannot

anandnk · Answer

Hi stoolfi,

What should be the answer according to you. Or you think all the answers suck. This is possible though. I would like to know as I am not a native speaker.

Anand.

rakesh1239 · Answer

This is the most yuk :puke

question I came across.

Bhai · Answer

I got a hang of this...but no matter what I would have chosen C.

gauravnagpal · Answer

see ..if you dig deep ..u can find gold

There is no man but would give ten yeasr of his life to

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