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Consider the sentence:

"She sees him not so much as her uncle as her friend."

Is this sentence correct? I feel something is missing, or perhaps I am disturbed by the extra 'as'. Compare with:

"He is not so much her friend as (he is) her uncle."

What do you suggest?

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  • These two sentences mean the opposite thing, don't they? The first is more friend than uncle and the second is more uncle than friend, I feel. What do you think?
    – Teacher KSHuang
    Commented Dec 30, 2016 at 10:21

3 Answers 3

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‘She sees him not so much as her uncle as her friend’ is a perfectly normal English sentence. So, too, is ‘He is not so much her friend as her uncle’. If you want to insert he is between as and her uncle, you can, but it's not necessary.

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  • Inserting "she sees him not so much as her uncle as she does her friend" would be wrong though, wouldn't it?
    – neydroydrec
    Commented Jan 2, 2012 at 15:16
  • @Benjamin: The sentence would still be grammatical, but it might be ambiguous.
    – Barrie England
    Commented Jan 2, 2012 at 15:22
  • I agree with Rosie's problem with the dubious dual-functioning of 'as' here. I'm not saying that the deletion/conflation is ungrammatical, but I'm not sure, and a good answer must address this concern, with supporting evidence. Admittedly, putting both as's in would sound clunky. But so does Rosie's workaround: I'd have to rephrase totally.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Jun 15, 2021 at 11:26
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People often insert the word "but" or a similar word to give a better rhythm. For example:

She sees him not as her uncle, but as her friend.

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  • What you propose would change the meaning of the sentence. not so much this as that is different from not as this but as that, the first mitigates while the second opposes.
    – neydroydrec
    Commented Jan 2, 2012 at 18:37
  • @Benjamin: Okay, depending on context that might change the meaning. Still, I'd rather write, "She sees him not so much as her uncle but rather as her friend."
    – Jay
    Commented Jan 3, 2012 at 5:40
  • @Benjamin I understand what you mean, but I'd agree with Jay on this. I would write, "She sees him not so much as her uncle, but as her friend." Or if you're afraid of having "but" in the sentence, you could also say, "She sees him as her friend more so than as her uncle." Is changing the wording OK or had you wanted to ask specifically about using "not so much as"? With as much original wording as possible, you could say, "She sees him not so much as her uncle, but more so as her friend." I think that the "more so" would mitigate better than "rather."
    – Teacher KSHuang
    Commented Dec 30, 2016 at 10:23
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The word "as" is being used in two ways here:

  • the "not so much X as Y" construction
  • in the phrases "as her uncle", "as her friend"

The question's example sentence is wrong because one "as" has swallowed another "as". Using brackets to indicate two parallel phrases, the grammatically correct form would be:

She sees him not so much [as her uncle] as [as her friend].

This is stylistically awkward because of the "as as". One way to remedy it is to take "as" out of the "not so much X as Y" construction, like this:

She sees him as not so much [her uncle] as [her friend].

I'm not saying that that construction's X and Y cannot be preposition-phrases. Rather, the awkwardness in this example comes from the prepositions being "as".

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  • Good archaeology. Palaeontology?
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Jun 15, 2021 at 11:27

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