Disjunctives, semitic
Several places in the Book of Mormon, the words ‘and’ and ‘but’ could be interchanged. In English grammar, the word but is often used as a disjunctive conjunction, which shows contrast or opposition between two ideas. This differs from the word and, a conjunctive conjunction that combines separate ideas together. Interestingly, this distinction is not found in all languages, especially Semitic ones. The appearance of this phenomenon in the Book of Mormon is further evidence that the Book of Mormon is not a creation of Joseph Smith or anyone else in the 19th Century, but indeed is a literal translation of an ancient Semitic text.
Examples of disjunctives found in the Standard Works
- Proverbs 10:1
- Matthew 5:22
- 2 Nephi 4:4
- Omni 1:25
- Alma 4:1-2
- Alma 14:18
- Alma 44:8
- 3 Nephi 12:22
- Moroni 7:9, 12
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