I've confused myself

[NotWise]

I wrote the line "Hector bent to pick up his briefcase and saw her not but a few steps away." Then changed "not" to "naught", and back again. Is one more correct than the other?

 

[TheLobster]

How about neither? “…and saw her but a few steps away.”

 

[lovecraft68]

Maybe "Hector bent over to pick up his briefcase and spotted her a few steps away."
Or
Hector didn't realize how close she was until he bent over to pick up his briefcase and saw her just a few steps away.

 

[THROBBS]

"Hector bent to pick up his briefcase and saw her naughty bits a few steps away."

 

[StillStunned]

I wrote the line "Hector bent to pick up his briefcase and saw her not but a few steps away." Then changed "not" to "naught", and back again. Is one more correct than the other?

Assuming you're going with a colloquial dialect, the correct spelling is "not but". The origin is probably the same, though.

 

[MrPixel]

"Naught" is closer to "nothing", as opposed to "not". As in, "She flashed a breast to him, but in the end the gesture was for naught."

 

[SimonDoom]

In this case, I think the answer is neither.

Here are some examples I found where "naught" has been used:

Poor Richard was naught but pretense. (New Yorker)

The film came to naught but, no matter, lots of people saw the play. (The Economist)

In the cases where "naught but" is used, "naught" means "nothing" and everything that follows, starting with "but," modifies and clarifies "naught."

That's not exactly how you are using it. Substituting "nothing" for "not" or "naught" in this case doesn't work. It doesn't convey what you are trying to say. You're trying to say that she was a few steps away. The addition of "but" indicates that there's an element of surprise in seeing her that close.

I think the right answer is that neither "not" nor "naught" serves any legitimate purpose here. Get rid of it. The meaning remains clear without it, and it's more concise.

 

[yowser]

'Not' would be preferable to 'naught' which the OED labels as 'archaic and literary.'

But the sentence itself is awfully clunky. How about:

Hector bent to pick up his briefcase. Yet but not a few steps away was (describe her, what she was doing, etc - don't know the context of your scenario.)

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

"Hector bent to pick up his briefcase and saw her naughty bits a few steps away."

or maybe knotty bits...

Seriously, as you are using it, not is the correct usage. Naught means nothing, or zero where not is an auxiliary verb negating its subject.
As others have suggested, perhaps a subtle rewrite would be better, though, lest all this discussion be for naught...

EDIT: there's a lot of etymology here that could be brought up but I thought it best not to confuse things more than they already are.

 

[NotWise]

Thanks for your help. "Not" it is.

I'll contemplate removing the word, but I'm not writing an essay. It's presence is a stylistic choice for emphasis, rhythm, and pacing in a passage that is otherwise intentionally terse.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

Thanks for your help. "Not" it is.

I'll contemplate removing the word, but I'm not writing an essay. It's presence is a stylistic choice for emphasis, rhythm, and pacing in a passage that is otherwise intentionally terse.

So, it's not naught, or for naught?

 

[yowser]

So, it's not naught, or for naught?

He's moving ahead at around sixteen naughts.

I do love that word, however...

 

[SimonDoom]

If you changed "not" to "knot" in your original sentence, then it would get really interesting.

 

[PrincessArianrhod]

It's naught if not a conundrum. Neither, if dilemma it be.

 

[Priscilla_June]

I always fall into the trap of using things like naught, thus, yet, therefore, etc lol

 

[MajorRewrite]

I wrote the line "Hector bent to pick up his briefcase and saw her not but a few steps away." Then changed "not" to "naught", and back again. Is one more correct than the other?

At first I thought he called his briefcase “her”.

“Her rich Corinthian leather gleamed in the bright light of the office.”

 

[Paul_Chance]

Does anyone actually say "not but" or "naught but". If I ran across it in a story it would strike me as pretentious. But then, maybe it's a pretentious character.

 

[StillStunned]

Does anyone actually say "not but" or "naught but". If I ran across it in a story it would strike me as pretentious. But then, maybe it's a pretentious character.

I can imagine Boyd Crowder from Justified saying "not but a few feet away".

 

[NotWise]

Does anyone actually say "not but" or "naught but". If I ran across it in a story it would strike me as pretentious. But then, maybe it's a pretentious character.

It is neither dialog nor first-person.

 

[SimonDoom]

At first I thought he called his briefcase “her”.

“Her rich Corinthian leather gleamed in the bright light of the office.”

I think of Ricardo Montalban's voice saying those words.

 

[NotWise]

I think of Ricardo Montalban's voice saying those words.

I doubt many of those old Chryslers he was hawking are still on the road.

 

[lustychimera]

Hector bent to pick up his briefcase and saw her not but a few steps away.

I think the whole sentence reads kind of uncanny, especially the "Hector bent" part.

"When Hector bent over to grab his suitcase, he saw her not but a few steps away."

I don't mind the "not but" part. It's unnecessary, but it adds voice and really highlights her as the object of his desire, as if he's incredulous.

 

[SimonDoom]

I did a little bit of research, and I cannot find any examples of "not but" being used in the way the OP proposes. There are examples of "naught but," but the usage and meaning are different. I find no examples of "not but," so my impression is that this is not a recognized or legitimate expression.

In the example given by the OP, "not" and "but" are redundant. You could get rid of either one, and the meaning would be the same.

E.g.,

Hector bent to pick up his briefcase and saw her not a few steps away.

Or

Hector bent to pick up his briefcase and saw her but a few steps away.

Read them a few times. They mean the same thing. So there's no need for both "not" and "but" together.

 

[NotWise]

I've rewritten the paragraph to avoid the phrase, however it's spelled.

 

[NotWise]

On a related topic (same story) I refer to workers in a clean room wearing "booties, bonnets, and lab coats." I can confirm that "booties" is still used for shoe covers, but I haven't found references to hair covers being called "bonnets." It's what we used to call them, but that was a long time ago. Anyone?