nothing but (= none but = only)： 僅僅，只不過

　　We could see nothing but fog. 除了霧之外我們什么也看不見。

　　for nothing： ①免費的; ②徒勞的; ③無緣無故的

　　She got the ticket for nothing. 她免費得到那張票。

　　All our preparation for nothing! No one’s even come to the party.

　　我們?yōu)檠鐣�所作的準備都白費了! 連一個人都沒來。

　　They quarreled for nothing. 他們無緣無故地爭吵。

　　make nothing of： (常和can一起用)不理解;不重視，輕視 (= think nothing of)

　　I could make nothing of the passage. 我不理解這篇文章。

　　He makes / thinks nothing of working ten hours a day. 他不在乎一天工作十小時。

　　to say nothing of： 更不用說(= not to mention / without mentioning)

　　Three people were badly hurt， to say nothing of damage to the building.

　　三個人受了重傷，建筑物的損害更不用說了。

　　have nothing to do with： 與……無關

　　I have nothing to do with the accident. 我與這場事故無關。

　　nothing if not： 格外地;非常地 (= very / much / extremely)

　　He was nothing if not clever. (= He was very clever.) 他格外聰明。

　　nothing of： 無……的部分;無……的氣質(zhì)

　　There was nothing of the lady in her behavior. 她的舉止根本沒有淑女的氣質(zhì)。

　　區(qū)別：

　　all but 幾乎，差一點，除……以外其余都是

　　but for要不是

　　but that+從句：若不是……

　　例1：She all but fainted when she heard the news.

　　譯文：她聽到這一消息時幾乎暈倒了。

　　注：此句中a11 but意為nearly，almost。

　　試對比：

　　All but the little children thought that the trip was exciting.

　　譯文：除了小孩，大家都認為這次旅行是激動人心的。

　　此句中all but意為a11 except。

　　例2：But for the rain we should have a pleasant journey.

　　譯文：要不是下雨，我們的旅行本來是愉快的。

　　例3：He would have helped us but that he was short of money at the time.

　　譯文：若不是他那時缺錢，他是會幫助我們的。

　　注

　　1).but that引導的從句中謂語用陳述語氣。

　　2).but that有靈活的譯法。

　　如：Nothing would satisfy that child but that I place her on my lap.(那孩子什么都不要，只要我把她抱在懷里。)