word inversion

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eagerness

#536360 Thu, 03 Jul 08 06:17 PM

If I said" I have not only sent a number of e-mails, but I have also left a few voice messages", would I be correct? Could this same sentence be structured differently?

Thank you.

eagerness

Joined on Tue, Jul 1 2008

New Member (30)

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RayH

#536366 Thu, 03 Jul 08 06:29 PM

eagerness
If I said" I have not only sent a number of e-mails, but I have also left a few voice messages", would I be correct? Could this same sentence be structured differently?

Thank you.

Sounds OK to me. I might leave out "but". You could make it a little more emphatic by saying "Not only have I sent..."

RayH

Joined on Sat, Mar 22 2008

CA, USA

Regular Member (695)

Native speaker of U. S. English. Not a grammar expert.

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Yoong Liat

#536391 Thu, 03 Jul 08 07:53 PM

RayH

eagerness
If I said" I have not only sent a number of e-mails, but I have also left a few voice messages", would I be correct? Could this same sentence be structured differently?

Thank you.

Sounds OK to me. I might leave out "but".

I don't think you can leave out 'but'. I would remove 'also' if it would make the sentence sound better, but I don't think it would.

Yoong Liat

Joined on Mon, Sep 4 2006

Singapore

Veteran Member (6,005)

Yoong Liat

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Kooyeen

#536414 Thu, 03 Jul 08 10:05 PM

I think in the "not only / but also" structure, you can leave out "but", or even "but + also" altogether, but not just "also".

I have not only sent some emails, but I have also left some voice messages.
I have not only sent some emails, I have also left some voice messages! <-- Seems kind of emphatic to me
I have not only sent some emails, I have left some voice messages! <-- Seems kind of emphatic to me
I have not only sent some emails, but I have left some voice messages! <-- I'm not sure about this one. Using "but" alone, is it still idiomatic?

Just my opinion.

Kooyeen

Joined on Thu, Dec 22 2005

Italy

Senior Member (3,972)

If you don't have a sense of humor already, it's about time you buy one.

eagerness

#536441 Thu, 03 Jul 08 11:13 PM

Thank you all for your swift response to my question.

eagerness

Anonymous

#536448 Thu, 03 Jul 08 11:47 PM

The way is written is correct. You can also use the inverted word order to give more emphasis to the sentence. e.g. Not only have I sent a number of e-mails but also (I have) left a few voice messeges.

Anonymous