Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English.
1.
You use ~ to introduce something which contrasts with what you have just said, or to introduce something which adds to what you have just said.
‘You said you’d stay till tomorrow.’—‘I know, Bel, ~ I think I would rather go back.’...
Place the saucepan over moderate heat until the cider is very hot ~ not boiling...
He not only wants to be taken seriously as a musician, ~ as a poet too.
CONJ
2.
You use ~ when you are about to add something further in a discussion or to change the subject.
They need to recruit more people into the prison service. But another point I’d like to make is that many prisons were built in the nineteenth century.
CONJ
3.
You use ~ after you have made an excuse or apologized for what you are just about to say.
Please excuse me, ~ there is something I must say...
I’m sorry, ~ it’s nothing to do with you...
Forgive my asking, ~ you’re not very happy, are you?
CONJ
4.
You use ~ to introduce a reply to someone when you want to indicate surprise, disbelief, refusal, or protest.
‘I don’t think I should stay in this house.’—‘But why?’...
‘Somebody wants you on the telephone’—‘But no one knows I’m here!’
CONJ feelings
5.
But is used to mean ‘except’.
Europe will be represented in all ~ two of the seven races...
He didn’t speak anything ~ Greek...
The crew of the ship gave them nothing ~ bread to eat.
PREP: n PREP n
6.
But is used to mean ‘only’. (FORMAL)
This is ~ one of the methods used to try and get alcoholics to give up drink.
...Napoleon and Marie Antoinette, to name ~ two who had stayed in the great state rooms.
ADV: ADV n, ADV num
7.
You use ~s in expressions like ‘no ~s’ and ‘ifs and ~s’ to refer to reasons someone gives for not doing something, especially when you do not think that they are good reasons.
‘B-b-b-b-~’ I stuttered.—‘Never mind the ~s,’ she ranted...
He committed a crime, no ifs or ~s about it.
N-PLURAL
8.
You use cannot ~, could not ~, and cannot help ~ when you want to emphasize that you believe something must be true and that there is no possibility of anything else being the case. (FORMAL)
The pistol was positioned where I couldn’t help ~ see it...
She could not ~ congratulate him.
PHRASE: PHR inf emphasis
9.
You use ~ for to introduce the only factor that causes a particular thing not to happen or not to be completely true.
...the small square below, empty ~ for a delivery van and a clump of palm trees...
PHRASE: PHR n/-ing
10.
You use ~ then or ~ then again before a remark which slightly contradicts what you have just said.
My husband spends hours in the bathroom, ~ then again so do I.
PHRASE: PHR cl
11.
You use ~ then before a remark which suggests that what you have just said should not be regarded as surprising.
He was a fine young man, ~ then so had his father been...
Sonia might not speak the English language well, ~ then who did?
PHRASE: PHR cl
12.
all ~: see all
anything ~: see anything