Grammar：But for
【明報專訊】Pat and MoMo had planned to go hiking, but they decided to call off the activity due to rain.
Pat: It is raining cats and dogs out there. What a shame!
MoMo: But for the heavy rain, we would have had a wonderful day.
Pat: Don't be too disappointed! We can still enjoy our afternoon indoors! Take a sip of coffee, choose a book and slowly flip over the pages. We can have a delightful day without going out as well.
MoMo: You are right. I will make a cup of coffee.
Pat: As a gentle reminder, you can only make pour-over coffee right now since our coffee machine went out of order.
MoMo: What? Why is it so?
Pat: Bill poured excessive coffee beans inside the grinder and broke it. But for his misuse of the machine, you would not have brewed the coffee by hand.
MoMo: I will not blame him if he did not intentionally wreck the machine. Moreover, brewing coffee by hand can really relieve my stress.
Pat: As a friendly reminder, Bill also broke your coffee cup. You may need to find a spare one in the cupboard. He dropped the bag of coffee beans and spilled them all over the floor, too. There are not many beans left in the bag.
MoMo: I am fed up with all these. I would have enjoyed this afternoon but for the news! The day is ruined!
■English highway﹕
We use ''but for'' in a sentence to introduce the factor that restrains something from happening.
e.g. They would have travelled around the world but for the pandemic.
But for the insanely high temperature, I would have gone to the beach.
■Gear up
Rewrite the sentences and connect them with ''but for''.
1.We did not have a team practice because of the rain.
__________________________________
2. I did not leave home because of you.
________________________________
(Answers on next text)
■Glossary
call off (phr. v) 取消
delightful (adj) 愉快
excessive (adj) 過多的
intentionally (adv) 有意圖地
[Smarties' Power English 第307期]
Comic：Oda Nobunaga, the first great unifier of Japan
【明報專訊】Eason is wearing something strange. What is he doing? “ Eason... 詳情
