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Sentence improvement — Case after ‘‘but’’ meaning ‘‘except’’: correct the pronoun in ‘‘All, but her, had made an attempt.’’ to maintain formal subject case in elliptical comparisons.

Difficulty: Easy

Correct Answer: All, but she,

Explanation:


Given data
Original: ‘‘All, but her, had made an attempt.’’


Concept/Approach
When ‘‘but’’ means ‘‘except’’ and the verb is understood elliptically (‘‘All [did] … but ___’’), the pronoun takes the subjective case: ‘‘but she’’.


Option analysis
All, but she, — Correct case with the understood verb; formal and precise.All, but herself, — Reflexive is unwarranted; no reflexive function here.All, but her, — Object case; substandard in this construction.No improvement — Keeps the error.All but she had — Also correct but restructures punctuation; our answer preserves the original pattern.


Verification/Alternative
Compare: ‘‘All but he were present.’’ / ‘‘No one but I knew the truth.’’


Common pitfalls
Using object case after ‘‘but’’ in elliptical subject contexts; adding reflexives unnecessarily.


Final Answer
All, but she,

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