Learn English – Use of “not only… but also”

grammarparallelismword-order

I am an English teacher in Korea. Please help me to teach correct English to my students.

I found the following sentence in the book "Why We Shop: Emotional Rewards and Retail Strategies" written by Jim Pooler. I don't think it is grammatically or logically correct.

At the office, it is important not only to look good and fit in; it's
also unusual for men and women to outdress their coworkers.

I think it is violating parallelism, not only A but also and it should be rephrased to the following:

In the office, it is not only important to look good and fit in, but
also unusual for men and women to outdress their co-workers.

Is the use of not only… but also correct in the second sentence compared with the first sentence?

Best Answer

I'd argue that the original sentence is valid.

At the office, it is important not only to look good and fit in; it's also unusual for men and women to outdress their coworkers.

In my opinion, the semicolon here makes the difference; there are now two separate clauses: one that says [paraphrasing] "looking good and fitting in is not the only important thing at the office" and another that says "it is unusual to attempt to outdress your coworkers". In essence, the sentence has used the words "not only" and "also" but is not necessarily a "not only... but also" construct.

I think your rephrasing is a little more confusing.

Perhaps a better way to phrase the sentence would be:

At the office, it is important to look good and fit in; but note that it is unusual for men and women to try to outdress their coworkers.

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