“It depends on your point of view, but also on where you live.” (Don Watson, Weasel Words) “…his application was not only refused by Bonn, it was hardly noticed and remained totally unsupported.” (Hannah Arendt, Eichmann in Jerusalem)īut (also) can appear by itself, without being preceded by not only: “Not only are there verbs with similar meanings and different past-tense forms, there are verbs with different meanings and the same past-tense forms. Wilson, Columbia Guide to Standard American English) ![]() “The omission of the also is not only frequent but Standard” (Kenneth G. “The shape of Cleopatra’s nose influences not only wars, but ideologies” (Arthur Koestler, The Sleepwalkers) ![]() “She not only consults, she insults.” (Muriel Spark, Aiding and Abetting) “Borges not only wrote stories but transformed them” ( The Mirror Man documentary) “The street door of the rooming-house was not only unlocked but wide open” (Dashiell Hammett, ‘The Big Knockover’) Doing without but or also tends to reduce formality, or to reduce stiffness in formal prose, and can benefit short and straightforward constructions. Adding but would impair it, while adding also would do little or nothing to improve it. The last example, from the New Yorker, is effective because of its succinctness and punchy rhythm. Rowers not only face backward, they race backward. He not only used a fictitious example, he also reproduced it. He not only used a fictitious example, but he also reproduced it. Hence the parentheses in but (also), which could also be written as (but) also, since but sometimes doesn’t appear either. When but is included you can either add also (or its alternatives) or not both forms are common and standard. Where the alternatives are not mentioned, consider them implied. He not only used a fictitious example, but he reproduced it too.īut (also) is the most common root form, so I’ll focus on it in this discussion. Not alone did she win the race, but she also beat the record. It was not just a big bear, but a grumpy one as well. ![]() These variants offer different nuances but not very different meanings. The first part is occasionally written not just or not alone, while the second part is commonly seen in the forms but. Writers typically, but not always, use both parts of the set, i.e. Not only is this post quite long and detailed, it also lacks images, so I’ve folded it up and divided it into three general sections: Usage, Parallelism, Opinions. I’ll look at that later in the post, but first I’ll give an overview of how the conjunctions are used. Much of this discord relates to the need for parallelism and sentence balance. Despite the apparent simplicity of these correlative conjunctions, there is uncertainty and disagreement over the suitability of their use and the correctness of their placement.
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