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Avoid ~ and/but

curiocity

Senior Member
Japanese
Could you tell me which of the following sounds more natural?

1) Avoid hurting people but love them.
2) Avoid hurting people and love them.
We really need some explanation of what you’re talking about. What is the context? Is this meant as an imperative, an instruction? Or is it part of a longer sentence?
2) Avoid hurting people and love them.
The first gives the meaning that you should avoid hurting them, but instead of leaving them on their own so as not to hurt them, stay close with them and love them. It sounds like a sentence that would be directed to someone who has committed that error of leaving the person they love alone.
The 2nd simply says that you should avoid causing them pain and just love them. It is a simpler version, and the more natural one at that.
Thank you. Because the original sentence I'm to construct needs a lengthy explanation of the context, I used a simplified example.
But maybe my example was not a good choice.
Because I meant "Do A instead of B", perhaps 1) is suitable for my case.
The specific context – if we knew it – would govern which “sounds best”. And there’s no grammatical “rule” involved here. But as a rather sweeping generalisation, I would say that the conjunction you use does create a certain nuance:

Stop doing that and do this [instead].​
Stop doing that (it’s not allowed), but [it’s OK to] do this.​
The specific context – if we knew it – would govern which “sounds best”. And there’s no grammatical “rule” involved here. But as a rather sweeping generalisation, I would say that the conjunction you use does create a certain nuance:

Stop doing that and do this [instead].​
Stop doing that (it’s not allowed), but [it’s OK to] do this.​

I clearly understand. Thank you!
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