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One of the most important things when using "not only , but also " grammar , is parallelism , I was wondering if you could tell me whether I have obeyed the rule in this sentence or not

My beautiful country is very famous for not only its intelligent people but also its professional , highly skilled engineers , physicians and athletes as well .

Thanks in advance

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  • Yes, it's fine. "My beautiful country is very famous for not only [its intelligent people] [but also its professional , highly skilled engineers , physicians and athletes as well] .
    – BillJ
    Nov 11, 2022 at 9:10
  • You don't need the "as well" at the end unless you remove the "also". I'd hyphenate "highly-skilled" and make a few changes to the structure..."My beautiful country is famous for not only its intelligent people, but also its professional, highly-skilled, engineers, physicians and athletes." Whether you choose to add another (Oxford) comma after "physicians" is a personal choice!
    – Fiona
    Nov 11, 2022 at 10:32
  • @Fiona You're nit-picking. The question was about parallelism.
    – BillJ
    Nov 11, 2022 at 14:28
  • @BillJ It's not intended as nit-picking, it's a site for those learning the English language and I was trying to be constructive.
    – Fiona
    Nov 11, 2022 at 15:58
  • @Fiona It's a site where we try to answer OP's questions concisely and accurately. If you want to be constructive, then answer the OP's actual question, which was about parallelism in "not only" coordinations . The Oxford comma and the hyphenation of "highly skilled" are minor issues and simply serve to detract from the OP's question.
    – BillJ
    Nov 11, 2022 at 16:17

2 Answers 2

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The formula "not only - but also" doesn't need "as well". Saying "But also ... as well" is like saying "But also ... also".

And you don't need a space before a punctuation mark.

My beautiful country is very famous for not only its intelligent people but also its professional, highly skilled engineers, physicians and athletes.

By the way, aren't the engineers and physicians intelligent people? (I agree about the athletes!)

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Yes.

Both 'not only' and 'also' are followed by noun phrases.

[Further]

The 'as well' at the end of the sentence is not necessary, and stops it reading naturally.

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  • They are followed by noun phrases, not adjectives.
    – BillJ
    Nov 11, 2022 at 10:06
  • Very fair point. Best to be precise.
    – PRL75
    Nov 11, 2022 at 10:25

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