Abut meaning come across/touch

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
1

Hi, can you please tell me what the word ‘abut’ means in the following sentence?

Toman would claim that in this experiment the rat formulated a schematic representation of the maze that included information about the dead ends and incorrect pathways as well as abut the path that leads to the goal.

Does it mean ‘come across’ or ‘touch upon’ or ‘hit’?

Many thanks,
Torsten[YSaerTTEW443543]

TOEIC listening, photographs: A backyard[YSaerTTEW443543]

2

Hi,

could they be typos?

3

Looks like a type to me.

Experiment is spelled correctly here.

4

Hi Torsten,

‘Abut’ usually means situated on or against in the sense of having a common boundary/point of contact. In the sentence there seems to be something missing like: as well as those that abut …

Alan

5

According to the sentence structure, I suppose it’s a typo :
…… included information about …… and …… as well as about …… .

Hi Alan,

Regarding the word “abut” which means “adjoin”, can we use the following sentence to specify the path leads to the goal is beside the incorrect pathways or the ones lead to the dead ends.

" Toman would claim that in this experiment the rat formulated a schematic representation of the maze that included information about the dead ends and incorrect pathways as well as the abutting path that leads to the goal. "

Nick

6

It seems to me that the sentence should have been: “… about the dead ends and incorrect pathways such as abut the path that leads to the goal.”

7

Thanks again, Mr Micawber. You are our sanitationist! :slight_smile: (spam spiked)

8

The sentence is perfectly fine if we assume “about”: its repetition puts the wrong path and the right path in opposition at equal level within the sentence. Assuming “abut” would require more changes. In palaeography, which emendation to choose is determined by Occam’s Razor: the simpler change is usually the better.