not only...but also

[Francois]

Yes, you can; it lays even more emphasis on 'this'.

FRC

[Casiopea]

2. omitted 'but':
Not only did he do that, (but) he also did this.

I omit also.
Not only did he do that, but he did this.

Hmm. I'd take out 'but' and add 'too':

Not only did he do that, he did this, too.

[blacknomi]

Not only did he do that, he did this, too.

Is this sentence tooo lazy?
Not only did he do that, and this, too.

[Casiopea]

Not only did he do that, he did this, too.

Is this sentence tooo lazy?
Not only did he do that, and this, too.

Well, I wouldn't use the word 'lazy', but the sentence is somewhat odd. The reason being, Not only is a correlative conjunctive, which means it joins to like units: 'did he do that' has a subject, verb, and an object, whereas 'this' is just an object:

Not only verb+subject+object, and object, too.

The problem is that verb+subject+object is morphologically heavier/weightier, sort to speak, than object. In other words, if Not only... (but).... were a scale, the problem would be that either the Not only side of the scale is too heavy or the (but) side of the scale is too light. :wink:

Not only this, that. (OK; objects only)
Not only did he, she did, too. (OK; verbs and subjects only)

All the best, :D

[blacknomi]

Not only did he, she did, too. (OK; verbs and subjects only)

Inversion.

Any words missing in this sentence?

[Casiopea]

Not only did he, she did, too. (OK; verbs and subjects only)

Inversion.

Any words missing in this sentence?

With emphasis on 'he', it's acceptable:

Not only did he, she did, too (i.e., Not only did he (do it), she did (it), too.

did...do work as a pair, whereas ..., she did is past tense for 'do', so 'She did do, too' would be incorrect:

Not only did he do it, she did do it, too. (Odd; Mind you, if 'did' is being used for emphasis, then it would be acceptable.)

All the best, :D

[blacknomi]

Not only did he do it, she did do it, too. (Odd; Mind you, if 'did' is being used for emphasis, then it would be acceptable.)

Not only did he do it, she DID do it, too. (With an empgasis on the action done by her.)
Not only did he do it, she did it,too. (OK)


Thank you very much, Cas. :)
I understand and I'll teach this corelative conjunt tomorrow. Let you know if I meet any problems.


:D

[Casiopea]

Not only did he do it, she did do it, too. (Odd; Mind you, if 'did' is being used for emphasis, then it would be acceptable.)

Not only did he do it, she DID do it, too. (With an empgasis on the action done by her.)
Not only did he do it, she did it,too. (OK)


Thank you very much, Cas. :)
I understand and I'll teach this corelative conjunt tomorrow. Let you know if I meet any problems.


:D

Not only did he do it, she DID do it, too. (With an empgasis on the action done by her.)

It's acceptable, but rare, and not necessarily grammatically correct, so remind your students that even though native speakers say it, it's not Standard usage. Standard would be without the second 'did'. The 'did' means, in fact (i.e., She did in fact do it, too). :wink:

Not only did he do it, she did it, too. (OK)

:up

Good luck. :D