使用not only...but also 的注意事项
not only...but also 是英语中常见的一对连词, 相当中文的“不仅……而且”。Not only…but also是英语中较为常见的一个关联词组。由于它的用法比较复杂,本文拟对其用法及其使用中应注意的问题作一归纳。
1.”not only A but also B”结构中的A和B通常是同等成分。由于同一成分常常由同一词类的词来担任,所以A与B常常也是同一词性,这从本文第一部分的例句中即可看到。但是,也有A与B属于不同词性的情形。如:”He is not only very clever, but also a very hard worker, and he likes to do everything well.(他不但聪明,而且能下功夫。他喜欢把每一件事都做得很好。)其中A是形容词,B是名词,但两者均在句中作表语,因此仍是正确句子。然而,在“He not only plays the piano, but also the violin.”一句中,A是动词,B是名词,不是同一成分,因此语法学家认为此句有点欠妥,至少在书面语中就是如此。如改为“He plays not only the piano, but also the violin”就无懈可击了,再看下面二例:
The surprise grant not only enabled Dad to finish A&T, but to graduate first in his class.这笔意外的奖学金不仅使我父亲能读完农业和技术学院,而且毕业成绩名列榜首。
1.Not only spoke English very carefully, but very clearly as well.
2.有人认为,not only…but also不能用于否定句。汉语中用于否定句中的“不但…而且”在英语中要用as well as 表示。如“不但我不想看戏,而且他也不想看戏”可译作“He, as well as I, doesn’t want to see the play.”不过,这条规则也有例外,请看下面二例:
Not only did none of us know how the crime was to be committed, we didn’t even know what the crime was to be!
Not only don’t I know the population of Nepal, I don’t know where in god’s world it is!我不但不知道尼泊尔人口,而且连它究竟在哪里也不知道!
这两个例句有几个共同点:都是连接否定分句,都是倒装句,都没有用but also。下面一例出自一位美国作家之手,所不同的是,not only…but连接的是并列谓语,第一个动词是否定的,第二个动词则是肯定的:
Nonetheless, as he described Mary’s attitudes her accomplishments, he found himself wishing that she cared more about the police side of his life than she seemed to, that she might understand it as intimately, say, as the woman opposite him. But this motion seemed to him so disloyal to Mary that he not only did not articulate it, but at once tried to suppress it.