Timeline for not only.. but also
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
10 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 4, 2016 at 14:58 | comment | added | Araucaria - Him | @BillJ I thought I spotted another comment as I was rushing back to class. Didn't have time to read it ... Was there another grammary point? | |
| Jul 4, 2016 at 14:57 | comment | added | Araucaria - Him | @BillJ Yes, I was. My point was that the fronting of a negative adjunct will cause subject-auxiliary inversion so long as it is moved from a non-clause initial position (and fulfils some other semantic requirements). So the not only modifying a subject doesn't fulfil this requirement (because it isn't fronted), but fronting of the adjunct not only on its own does. Off the top of my head that is. So I was agreeing with your second point, and devil's advocating about your initial comment ;-) | |
| Jul 4, 2016 at 12:36 | comment | added | BillJ | @Araucaria You've lost me. I thought you were making a point about inversion? | |
| Jul 4, 2016 at 11:49 | comment | added | Araucaria - Him | @BillJ It can be any type of adjunct so long as it isn't modifying the Subject or part of the Subject, methinks. | |
| Jul 4, 2016 at 11:26 | comment | added | BillJ | @Araucaria In your example, "not only" is modifying the NP "Mary", but in the OP's example it's modifying a VP. With VPs inversion is triggered when "not only" is fronted, cf. "Ed not only studies three days a week, but he also works part time at McDonalds" vs "Not only does Ed study three days a week, but he also works at McDonalds". | |
| Jul 3, 2016 at 22:43 | comment | added | Araucaria - Him | @BillJ Hmm. Devil's advocate here: how about "Not only Mary left early."? | |
| Jun 30, 2016 at 6:33 | comment | added | BillJ | Fronting an element like "not only" triggers subject-auxiliary inversion. Since there is no auxiliary present here, one has to be inserted, and this is the "dummy" auxiliary "do". Notice the inverted "does this" (not "this does"). Because "do" is an auxiliary verb, the following 'main' verb must be an infinitival, so "change", not "changes". | |
| Jun 30, 2016 at 0:10 | answer | added | Steven Littman | timeline score: 1 | |
| Jun 30, 2016 at 0:06 | review | First posts | |||
| Jun 30, 2016 at 2:11 | |||||
| Jun 30, 2016 at 0:01 | history | asked | Mac | CC BY-SA 3.0 |