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When you read, you can not only learn some new words, but also you can learn how to use these English words.

I thought the sentence should be :

"When you read, not only you can learn some new words, but also you can learn how to use these English words.

or

When you read, you can not only learn some new words, but also learn how to use these English words.

What do "only" and "also" modify?

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  • 1
    Also - When you read, not only do you learn some new words, but also their usage.
    – Maulik V
    Commented Jan 28, 2014 at 4:51

2 Answers 2

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The first suggested alternative is not grammatically correct. The possible orderings of "you can not only" are:

  • "you can not only"
  • "not only can you"

Also, there are not strict limitations on how much of the second clause you may/must repeat. The following are all grammatical:

"you can not only verb object A, but also you can verb object B"
"you can not only verb object A, but also verb object B"
"you can not only verb object A, but also object B"

All these sentences would be correct with either "not only can you" or "you can not only".

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  • 1
    What about you not only can? (The "you" would not get repeated in this case). I think it's only the "not only" that can't be split, no?
    – starsplusplus
    Commented Jan 28, 2014 at 12:05
  • @starsplusplus yes I would say "you not only can" is grammatical, but clunkier sounding than the others.
    – nohat
    Commented Jan 28, 2014 at 18:06
  • Yes, that is true. I agree.
    – starsplusplus
    Commented Jan 29, 2014 at 9:07
  • Are the following grammatically correct? 1) Not only can you write this way, but also you're encouraged to. 2) Not only can you write this way, but you also are encouraged to. 3) Not only can you write this way, but you're also encouraged to. 4) Not only can you write this way, but also are encouraged to.
    – Lerner Zhang
    Commented Aug 2, 2015 at 3:35
  • Only your second example is grammatically correct. The rest violate parallel structure.
    – user3932000
    Commented Jan 9, 2018 at 12:16
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The given sentence itself is wrong. Your two alternatives are perfectly grammatically correct, save for a little error which we'll get to later.

"Not only... but also" is an example of a correlative conjunction. And when using correlative conjunctions, you have to make both parts of the conjunction parallel, meaning you have to make sure both parts have equal grammatical units. See here for more on parallelism.

For example, here's the given sentence:

When you read, you can not only {learn some new words}, but also {you can learn how to use these English words}.

You can easily see that the two {parts} aren't equal, or parallel. Here are some fixed versions, with the parallelisms sorted out:

When you read, you can not only {learn some new words}, but also {learn how to use these English words}.

When you read, you can learn not only {some new words}, but also {how to use these English words}.

When you read, not only {can you learn some new words}, but {you can also learn how to use these English words}.

You may have noticed that with the third one, the word order is kinda changed around, and this is the little error in your first alternative.

If you introduce an independent clause with "not only...," the clause has to be inverted, hence the "not only can you" instead of "not only you can." It's just how it is.

As for "but you can also" word order, the adverb "also" has to come after "be" or helping verbs. For more info about adverb placement, see here.

Cheers.

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  • Not sure why people are downvoting this. Parallel structure is basic stuff—you learn this in grade school, and it's a favorite topic among SAT/ACT questions. If it's not parallel, it's not grammatical.
    – user3932000
    Commented Jan 9, 2018 at 12:18
  • "If it's not parallel, it's not grammatical" is not entirely correct. Parallelism is a style preference, not a division between grammatical and ungrammatical usage. Plenty of native speakers say and write non-parallel structures all the time.
    – nohat
    Commented Mar 25, 2019 at 21:09
  • @nohat Plenty of native speakers also speak and write in incorrect grammar, no matter the language.
    – user3932000
    Commented Mar 25, 2019 at 21:36

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