Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[nawee]

Hello,

Does "not only" always have to be followed by "but also"? Can we omit "but" and/or "also"?

I was taught at school that after "not only", we need inversion. But I have seen and heard "not only" followed by a SV word order. Is that consider grammatically unacceptable or is it ok in an informal style?

Thank you,

Nawee

[Mister Micawber]

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Not only should be followed by but also, and the S-V should invert after the negative portion. As you note, casually and informally you will hear and read otherwise, but it is not a practice to be encouraged.
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"I really do not know that anything has ever been more exciting than diagramming sentences." � Gertrude Stein
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Canadian-American who teaches English for a living at Mr Micawber's