Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[sejpdw]

Another question about not only A but also B

In a book, I've read this sentence.
"By that time we will not only be able to find the genes that heal us when we are sick, but those that make us ill in the fist place."

In my opinion, above sentence is not parallel.
1) or 2) is gramatically right.
Am I right?

1) By that time we will be able to find not only the genes that heal us when we are sick, but those that make us ill in the fist place.

2) By that time we will not only be able to find the genes that heal us when we are sick, but be able to find those that make us ill in the fist place.

[Harmony]

Hello Sejpdw,

Here are my thoughts. I hope you find them helpful.

~*~*~*~

"By that time we will not only be able to find the genes that heal us when we are sick, but those that make us ill in the first place."

I agree that the sentence above is not correct.

1) By that time we will be able to find not only the genes that heal us when we are sick, but those that make us ill in the first place.
2) By that time we will not only be able to find the genes that heal us when we are sick, but be able to find those that make us ill in the first place.

Yes, they are grammatically correct, but #2 seems a bit awkward to me. Although this is outside the scope of your question, I'd like to suggest the following alternate for #2:

By that time we will not only be able to find the genes that heal us when we are sick; we will (also) be able to find those that make us ill in the first place.

If anyone has comments to add, please feel free to do so.

~ ~ ~ Harmony