**Incorrect** "She not only dreamed about it."

[Williamyh]

Hi Everybody,

Recently I read the book and got the following sentence, I feel so weird, I'm not sure if it's grammatically incorrect. "She not only dreamed about it"

Please advise.

W

 

[Raymott]

Hi Everybody,

Recently I read the book and got the following sentence, I feel so weird, I'm not sure if it's grammatically incorrect. "She not only dreamed about it"

Please advise.

W

There's nothing wrong with that in an appropriate context.
Here's one context and meaning:
She not only dreamed about it. = She didn't just dream about it.
She not only dreamed about it; she actually went out and did it!
She not only dreamed about it; she wrote and sang about it as well.

 

[Williamyh]

There's nothing wrong with that in an appropriate context.
Here's one context and meaning:
She not only dreamed about it. = She didn't just dream about it.
She not only dreamed about it; she actually went out and did it!
She not only dreamed about it; she wrote and sang about it as well.

Thanks Raymott. But in my daily life, most of people would say "She didn't just dream about it." I mean I seldomly see people would put "not only" after the subject cos "not only" is not verb, that's why it's so weird to me. Could you tell me whether it is formal sentence or not? Thanks.

 

[Raymott]

Thanks Raymott. But in my daily life, most of people would say "She didn't just dream about it." I mean I seldomly see people would put "not only" after the subject cos "not only" is not verb, that's why it's so weird to me. Could you tell me whether it is formal sentence or not? Thanks.

Yes, it's also more common to say "She didn't just dream about it" here on Earth. But that doesn't make the other phrasing wrong. It's acceptable.

 

[Tdol]

Is that the complete sentence? It sounds incomplete to me.

 

[Raymott]

Is that the complete sentence? It sounds incomplete to me.

Yes, it's incomplete as a sentence.

 

[Williamyh]

Yes, it's incomplete as a sentence.

Yes, it was an incomplete sentence. The complete sentence is "She not only dreamed about it, but wanted it enough to go about getting it." I got this from book called "IT'S NOT HOW GOOD YOU ARE, IT'S HOW GOOD YOU WANT TO BE." BY Paul Arden


One more question about "but wanted it enough to go about getting it", how come there is no "he", "she", "it" "they" or any subject after "but", is it a proper expression in English?

 

[Dacre]

"Not only ________, but also ___________" is a common and acceptable construction.

You don't need to say the subject again after but because you've already introduced us to the subject. We already know who you're talking about. It's definitely proper; in fact, it's probably better than saying the subject again, which sounds redundant in English.