From New Zealand 2007年7月，ニュージーランドへ移住してきました。ニュージーランドでの日常生活についてつづります。

Kenji was a blind boy and he loved to read braille books.

 

よく日本人の編集者の方から，「このbutは合っているのか？」と指摘されます。

I haven't noticed recurrent errors of your use of 'but'. All three of your sample sentences below require 'but' ('and' is incorrect).

以下の３文は，実際に別々の方から？と指摘のあった文章。
1. My host sister always took me to interesting places, but I liked the museum the best.

 

追加：
I couldn’t go to your city this time, but I hope to see you there some day.

 

わたし自身はどれも違和感なく書きましたが，日本語に直しても「…だが，～」となると思うので，なぜこれらのbutに違和感をもつのか不思議です。
その違和感のポイントがわかれば，中学英語らしい英文（？）を書くように対処できるのですが。

教科書にない，と言われればそれ以上何も言えないのですが，わたし自身，英文の基準は教科書＋高校入試問題であるが故に，一部の方と基準のギャップを感じる今日この頃…。
 

"Which do you like the better, A or B?" or "Which do you like better, A or B?" Either.
"Which do you like the better, the A or the B?" or "Which do you like better, the A or the B?" Either.

Would you like tea or coffee?
は「紅茶かコーヒーでもいかがですか？」と飲み物を勧める表現ですが，これと混同してか，

Which do you like better, tea or coffee?
を「紅茶かコーヒーはいかがですか」「紅茶とコーヒーではどちらに致しますか？」のような訳が，（学参以外の）教材でよく見かけます。
 

過去のブログで、
Which film is more moving, A or B?
はOKか？　というような記事を書きました。

これについて、（ノンネイティブのわたしではなく）ネイティブの観点から補足してみます。

 

"Moving" is an ed/ing adjective, the same as surprised/surprising, excited/exciting. "It was a moving/surprising/exciting book."

So, "Which book is more moving/exciting/interesting?" is perfectly normal English, as in "Which is the red ball?" and "Which ball is red?"

 

Either 'more' or 'the more', although the latter is arguably better/the better English.

Note: "Which of the two is the more moving, A or B?"

"Which book is the most moving, A, B or C?"

When choosing between three or more items we would always use 'the most' perhaps because "of the three/four/five" is more specifically implied than when comparing only two things.
 

Surprised by something
= something jumped out of the bushes as scared the pooh out of me.
'Surprised by' refers to an emotional response, eg. "I was surprised by his lack of initiative."


Surprised at something
= I noticed/learned something which surprised me to learn.
'Surprised at' refers to an intellectual response, eg. "I was surprised at his lack of initiative."

In both cases, 'something surprised me' works, eg. "His lack of initiative surprised me."
Here, the listener is unsure whether the speaker means he was emotionally surprised or intellectually surprised.
'I was surprised' works, but the listener obviously needs to know the context.