http://www.englishforums.com/English/EslGeneralEnglishGrammar-Questions/Forum12.htmAsk your questions on grammar and get your sentence checked. We answer lots of different types of general English grammar questions here. <font color=red>DO NOT post paragraphs and compositions here. Post them in our <a href="http://www.englishforums.com/English/EssayReportCompositionWriting/Forum9.htm"><b>Essay, Report and Composition Writing Forum</b></a>.</font>enXMOD (Build: 3614.32638)http://www.englishforums.com/English/NotOnlyButAlso/2/zxncb/Post.htm#490476Tue, 24 Mar 2009 00:57:20 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:490476Liveinjapan0http://www.englishforums.com/English/NotOnlyButAlso/2/zxncb/Post.htm#490476http://www.englishforums.com/English/comments12-490476.xmlYou shouldn&#39;t only be interested in things that can benefit you economically, but also (in) broader cultural things. IMO, basically NOT should only modify ONLY in this kind of structure. Your second sentence has a possibility that (should)NOT can modify both ONLY and BE INTERESTED. That&#39;s why, I think, the sentence is something a bit difficult to understand. What do you think?http://www.englishforums.com/English/NotOnlyButAlso/2/zxncb/Post.htm#490475Sat, 24 Jan 2009 00:57:20 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:490475Liveinjapan1http://www.englishforums.com/English/NotOnlyButAlso/2/zxncb/Post.htm#490475http://www.englishforums.com/English/comments12-490475.xmlJust be parallel. Thank you so much, GG.http://www.englishforums.com/English/NotOnlyButAlso/2/zxncb/Post.htm#490438Sat, 23 May 2009 23:57:20 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:490438Doll2http://www.englishforums.com/English/NotOnlyButAlso/2/zxncb/Post.htm#490438http://www.englishforums.com/English/comments12-490438.xmlAs Doll said, the following sentence is correct. You should be interested not only in things that can benefit you economically but also in broader cultural things. Hi YL, In fact, I wanted to say that that example is wrong. :) You read it wrong.http://www.englishforums.com/English/NotOnlyButAlso/2/zxncb/Post.htm#490419Thu, 23 Apr 2009 23:57:20 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:490419Grammar Geek3http://www.englishforums.com/English/NotOnlyButAlso/2/zxncb/Post.htm#490419http://www.englishforums.com/English/comments12-490419.xmlUh, you know, you&#39;re like... right! Oh wait, make that: You&#39;re so totally right!http://www.englishforums.com/English/NotOnlyButAlso/zxncb/post.htm#490398Sat, 23 May 2009 23:57:20 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:490398Kooyeen4http://www.englishforums.com/English/NotOnlyButAlso/zxncb/post.htm#490398http://www.englishforums.com/English/comments12-490398.xmlHow in heaven&#39;s name can you seperate good style from proper grammar and idiomatic English? Well, I was thinking of something like &quot;Uh, y&#39;know, I think it&#39;s, like, weird&quot; , which would definitely be idiomatic, but probably not good style if you put it in &quot;good writing&quot;. But I see you were only considering written English... It&#39;s casual writing and makes your reader work harder than you want him to. ...while I mentioned &quot;spoken English&quot; in my post. No problem. You are a writer, so &quot;good writing&quot; is the first thing you think of, of course.http://www.englishforums.com/English/NotOnlyButAlso/zxncb/post.htm#490368Thu, 23 Apr 2009 23:57:20 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:490368Anonymous5http://www.englishforums.com/English/NotOnlyButAlso/zxncb/post.htm#490368http://www.englishforums.com/English/comments12-490368.xmlYes! you are very right.http://www.englishforums.com/English/NotOnlyButAlso/zxncb/post.htm#490354Thu, 23 Apr 2009 23:57:20 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:490354Grammar Geek6http://www.englishforums.com/English/NotOnlyButAlso/zxncb/post.htm#490354http://www.englishforums.com/English/comments12-490354.xmlHow in heaven&#39;s name can you seperate good style from proper grammar and idiomatic English? Both (parellel) forms are grammatical. Your second example would leave me scratching my head on a first read -- am I not supposed to be interested in cultural things? And then I go back and figure out that &quot;but also in&quot; is a shortcut for &quot;but you should also be interested in.&quot; It&#39;s casual writing and makes your reader work harder than you want him to. (That&#39;s also good style - don&#39;t make your reader work harder than necessary to understand your meaning.) You shouldn&#39;t be interested in ONLY things that can benefit you economically, but should take an interest in broader, cultural issues as well.http://www.englishforums.com/English/NotOnlyButAlso/zxncb/post.htm#490346Tue, 24 Mar 2009 00:57:20 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:490346Kooyeen7http://www.englishforums.com/English/NotOnlyButAlso/zxncb/post.htm#490346http://www.englishforums.com/English/comments12-490346.xmlDon&#39;t say &quot;in not only x but also in y&quot; Hi Barb, yes, but that&#39;s more related to style and &quot;good writing&quot; than grammar and idiomatic English, isn&#39;t it? I think native speakers are very likely to use unbalanced structures in everyday speech... Anyway, I wanted to ask a question about &quot;not only... but also&quot; I&#39;ve always wanted to ask. Is it possible to merge &quot;not also&quot; with verbs, or is it a separate and fixed idiom that must remain that way? Example: You should be interested not only in things that can benefit you economically, but also in broader cultural things. You shouldn&#39;t only be interested in things that can benefit you economically, but also (in) broader cultural...http://www.englishforums.com/English/NotOnlyButAlso/zxncb/post.htm#490321Tue, 24 Feb 2009 00:57:20 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:490321Grammar Geek8http://www.englishforums.com/English/NotOnlyButAlso/zxncb/post.htm#490321http://www.englishforums.com/English/comments12-490321.xmlJust be parallel. not only in... but also in... or in not only x but also y Don&#39;t say &quot;in not only x but also in y&quot;http://www.englishforums.com/English/NotOnlyButAlso/zxncb/post.htm#490235Sat, 24 Jan 2009 00:57:20 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:490235Liveinjapan9http://www.englishforums.com/English/NotOnlyButAlso/zxncb/post.htm#490235http://www.englishforums.com/English/comments12-490235.xmlThanks, Doll and YL. I took a quick check on google and both are found. A Google search for the second structure in nytimes.com results in four times hits than that for the first. I think they both are correct but I don&#39;t know the difference of feeling.http://www.englishforums.com/English/NotOnlyButAlso/zxncb/post.htm#490206Tue, 24 Mar 2009 00:57:20 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:490206Yoong Liat10http://www.englishforums.com/English/NotOnlyButAlso/zxncb/post.htm#490206http://www.englishforums.com/English/comments12-490206.xmlHi LiJ As Doll said, the following sentence is correct. You should be interested not only in things that can benefit you economically but also in broader cultural things.http://www.englishforums.com/English/NotOnlyButAlso/zxncb/post.htm#490200Sat, 23 May 2009 23:57:20 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:490200Doll11http://www.englishforums.com/English/NotOnlyButAlso/zxncb/post.htm#490200http://www.englishforums.com/English/comments12-490200.xmlOnly second one sounded correct to me. I don&#39;t like the idea of splitting prepositions in such structures. Even when you read, you feel confused, don&#39;t you? Or am I alone?http://www.englishforums.com/English/NotOnlyButAlso/zxncb/post.htmTue, 24 Feb 2009 00:57:20 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:490179Liveinjapan12http://www.englishforums.com/English/NotOnlyButAlso/zxncb/post.htmhttp://www.englishforums.com/English/comments12-490179.xmlYou should be interested not only in things that can benefit you economically but also in broader cultural things. You should be interested in not only things that can benefit you economically but also broader cultural things. I think they are correct but which is better to say? Thanks LiJ