Body & Soul9 mins ago
does this sentence make sense?
I am poor as a church mouse, but I will give you my food, not that I have much.
Any correction appreciated.
Answers
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'I am as poor as a church mouse, but I will give you my food - not that I have much.'
The comma is not strictly necessary, but I feel acts well as a caesura to balance that part of the sentence, and reflects the way it would be said. Then again, I do have an overenthusiasm for commas, and tend to overuse them.
The 'not that I have much' might be construed as a tautology, given that the speaker has already declared that he is poor. An alternative is 'I will give you my food - not that I have much. I am as poor as a church mouse'. On the other hand, if it is direct speech then it doesn't really matter whether the sentence is particularly well constructed as long as it makes sense and is in character.