"The Cowboys played well, but still by 21."

"I'd love to go to dinner with you, but I have to wash my hair."

"We could close your loan tomorrow, but we don't have an approval."

The three sentences above all have one thing in common... the word "but", and please remember that a "but" wipes away everything before it.

Please be judicious when using this word because "but" can destroy anything nice you were trying to say in the beginning of even the simplest and most harmless of sentences.