HSK 4 Grammar 26: "Not only … but also …"
HSK · HSK · HSK 4 Sujet 26 3:06 Narration en anglais · Sous-titres anglais + 中文 incrustés
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Transcript
One meaning, one family. Not only A, but also B. Choose any front word, budan, bujin, or buzhi, and any back word, erqie, hai, or ye, and pair them up. Mix and match freely, because they are alike in meaning. The one real rule is escalation: B must push further than A, the second half has to top the first.
Think of the frame as a coat with two buttons. The front button comes in three styles, budan, bujin, buzhi, all meaning not only, with bujin and buzhi ringing a touch more formal. The back button also comes in three, erqie, hai, ye, all meaning but also. Mix freely: budan hai, bujin erqie, buzhi ye. Master Wang not only drives, he can repair cars too. We not only finished the task, but did so ten days early. What never changes is the shape: front button, A, back button, B.
Two rules button the coat properly. First, B escalates past A: drives to and repairs, finished to ten days early. If B is just more of the same, the frame loses its point. Second, if the subject changes, it sits after the conjunction: wo budan qu le, erqie ta ye qu le, not only did I go, he went too. And the watch-out: keep both halves, because casual English might drop one while Chinese says the whole not only but also out loud. Praise a friend's cooking: ta budan hui zuo Zhongguocai, erqie hui zuo Yidalicai.
Here is the escalation ladder in one look. Wang drives, and the step up is repairing, the rarer skill. We finished, and the step up is ten days early. The book is interesting, and the step up is useful, because interest fades and usefulness lasts. Before you speak, ask yourself: is my B really a step up from A? If yes, the frame is yours. If no, find the step-up or drop the frame, because a flat not-only reads as noise.
Pause and check both. First, the second one is wrong, because hen gao is more of the same height, not a step up; B must escalate past A. Second, the new subject sits after the conjunction: budan dot dot dot, erqie ta ye dot dot dot. The remaining review items: the three front words are budan, bujin, buzhi, the three back words are erqie, hai, ye, and the film sentence is zhege dianying budan hen chang, erqie hen wuliao, not only long but also boring. One coat, two buttons, one step up.