but that表示隐含条件的用法

国内出版的一些语法书上提到了 but that 可以表示隐含条件，如：

She would have cried, but that he would laugh. 要不是他会笑，她就哭了。（《薄冰高级英语语法》）

But that I saw it, I wouldn’t have believed it. 要不是亲眼目睹,我还不信呢。（《英汉大词典》）

但是，我没有原版词典或语法书上查到类似用法，特来请教专家老师！

赞同陈老师的解答，我再补充两个原版词典的依据：这是一种比较老的用法。现代英语使用but for +名词结构更多见。请看牛津语言网络词典的解释：

再请看the free dictionary 的but词条的释义和例句：

好题 -

擅长：英语 | 采纳率 52% | 回答于 2022-10-29 07:16

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其它 1 个回答

陈才 - 英语教师 2022-10-28 23:40

擅长：中考英语,词法问题

But that引导条件状语从句，表示but for the fact that的意义，相当于if ...not

【1】She would have cried, but that he would laugh.

=She would have cried, if he had not laughed

要不是他笑了，她就哭了。

【2】But that I saw it, I wouldn’t have believed it.

=If I had not seen it, I wouldn’t have believe it.

要不是我亲眼目睹,我还不信这件事。

【3】I would have come here earlier but that I was busy.

=I would have come here earlier if I had not been busy

要不是我很会很忙，我就更早来到这里了。