I don't love her because she is beautiful.
This sentence is in my grammar book. It means I love her not because she is beautiful.
I am confused!
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As a new user, you should bear in mind that you would better clarify what you want to ask.– Turkan AlisoyCommented Jul 24, 2016 at 9:39
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1I guess there should be some subsequent sentences. I don't love her because she is beautiful, I love her for her soul and wit.– Turkan AlisoyCommented Jul 24, 2016 at 9:45
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It means that the reason why you love her is not because of her beauty.– user66974Commented Jul 24, 2016 at 9:51
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6It's ambiguous -- the sort of thing that a novelist or poet might deliberately write. I'm surprised it appears in a grammar book, but apparently there are a lot of flaky English textbooks out there.– Hot LicksCommented Jul 24, 2016 at 12:02
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2It's in a grammar book because it's a classic variety of ambiguity that can occur in writing and should be avoided. It's called an attachment ambiguity, and it's ambiguous because a sentence formed that way doesn't give enough information to tell what the because clause modifies -- the verb phrase love her or the verb phrase don't love her. Since those meanings are opposites, the intention of the writer is unclear. In real life -- i.e, when speaking, not writing -- we would say the sentences differently and nobody would notice the ambiguity. Unless they were joking.– John LawlerCommented Jul 24, 2016 at 14:26
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2 Answers
The sentence can have at least three different meanings: (1) I love her, and she is beautiful, but the fact that she is beautiful is not the reason that I love her. (2) I love her, she is not beautiful, so her non-existing beauty is not the reason why I love her. (3) She is beautiful, but I don't like beautiful people; her beauty is the reason why I don't love her.
Being optimistic, the writer meant (1), to express simultaneously that he loves her, that she is (in his opinion) beautiful, and that she has other qualities than her beauty that make him love her.
The explanation from the book "It means I love her not because she is beautiful" is pointless because it has the exact same three interpretations, just using less good English.
The writer probably meant: I love her She is beautiful But I don't love her because of her beauty. I love her for another reason.
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The writer meant that although he acknowledge her being beautiful, but I do not love her because of her beauty. May be he loved her because she was a great singer or whatever. He does not tell us more at all.– AbhilaajCommented Jul 24, 2016 at 12:07