Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[sejpdw]

I've read this sentence in a book.
'Not only was she a star of the stage, but also of the screen.'

I think it's not correct.
I think 1) or 2) is correct. What's your opinion?

1) She was a star not only of the stage, but also of the screen.
2) Not only was she a star of the stage, but she was also a star of the screen.

[Mister Micawber]

You are right, Sejpdw-- the original structures were not parallel. This is a common error among native speakers.
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"I really do not know that anything has ever been more exciting than diagramming sentences." � Gertrude Stein
...............
Canadian-American who teaches English for a living at Mr Micawber's

[mat]

I don't really see the need to repeat it...
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-Mat

[lotus]

Hi sejpdw,

#1 is good. For #2, I would just cut out the "but."

Not only was she a star of the stage, she was also a star of the screen.


--lotus

[KazAV]

All perfectly correct. However, using "but" here cuts out the need for unnecessary repetition as in repeating "she was a star". The structure, "not only..., but also..." helps to do this.

[lotus]

Yes, it is a little repetitive. I would rephrase the sentence more succinctly as:

She was both a star of the stage and a star of the screen.

Or,

She was a star of both the stage and the screen.


--lotus

[KazAV]

I really like these suggestions, especially the last one