0
Seagull Posted 10 years ago
Grammar
not only ... also
Hello there.
I have a couple of questions regarding the two sentences below:
(A) In the conference, not only did everyone support Helen, but she also supported everyone.
(B) In the conference, not only everyone supported Helen, but she also supported everyone.
I meant to say, "During the meeting, Helen and the other attendees supported each other."
Q1 Are both (A) and (B) correct?
Q2 Can we omit the conjunction "but" in the sentences?
I have a couple of questions regarding the two sentences below:
(A) In the conference, not only did everyone support Helen, but she also supported everyone.
(B) In the conference, not only everyone supported Helen, but she also supported everyone.
I meant to say, "During the meeting, Helen and the other attendees supported each other."
Q1 Are both (A) and (B) correct?
Q2 Can we omit the conjunction "but" in the sentences?
Top answer
seagull Q1 Are both (A) and (B) correct? No. Only (A) is correct.
- seagull Q1 Are both (A) and (B) correct?
- No.
- Only (A) is correct.
- After initial "not only", you need subject-verb inversion (with do -support as necessary, of course).
- seagull Q2 Can we omit the conjunction "but" in the sentences?
Get the Weekly English Kit 📬
New words, one handy idiom, and a 2-minute quiz — delivered to your inbox to keep your streak alive.
4 Answers
0
seagullQ1 Are both (A) and (B) correct?No. Only (A) is correct. After initial "not only", you need subject-verb inversion (with do-support as necessary, of course).
seagullQ2 Can we omit the conjunction "but" in the sentences?No, you cannot.
CJ
00
Thank you so much for your answer, CalifJim.
May I ask you an additional question? Is this sentence similar to (A) in meaning? Also, does is sound natural? --
(C) In the conference, everyone not only supported Helen, but she also supported everyone.
I think that there is no problem with "In the conference, everyone not only supported Helen, but they also cheered her up."
May I ask you an additional question? Is this sentence similar to (A) in meaning? Also, does is sound natural? --
(C) In the conference, everyone not only supported Helen, but she also supported everyone.
I think that there is no problem with "In the conference, everyone not only supported Helen, but they also cheered her up."
00
seagullC) In the conference, everyone not only supported Helen, but she also supported everyone.This is OK, and it means the same as (A). It's natural enough, though there are rephrasings that are possibly even more natural, for example,
... I'm not quite sure about (C). What do you make of it?
Everyone at the conference supported Helen, and
00
Thank you very much, CalifJim, for your answer and pertinent example.
Your sentence sounds so great, and I think that that's exactly what I've been looking for four hours. I'll try hard to go beyond the boundary of fixed sentence constructions and write sentences like yours.
Your sentence sounds so great, and I think that that's exactly what I've been looking for four hours. I'll try hard to go beyond the boundary of fixed sentence constructions and write sentences like yours.
0
Related Questions