553 GG Not Only, But Also. Leave in the Lurch. Month Names.

Grammar Girl Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing

Mignon Fogarty, Inc.

Society & Culture, Education

4.5 • 2.9K Ratings

🗓️ 27 January 2017

⏱️ 11 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week we talk about a common error you should avoid when using "not only" with "but also." We examine why we talk about leaving someone "in the lurch." What's a lurch? And finally, we look at the interesting origins of the month names in English. FOLLOW GRAMMAR GIRL Twitter: http://twitter.com/grammargirl Facebook: http://facebook.com/grammargirl Snapchat: http://snapchat.com/add/thatgrammargirl Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/realgrammargirl Instagram: http://instagram.com/thegrammargirl LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/grammar-girl GET GRAMMAR GIRL BOOKS http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/grammar-girl-book-page AMAZON AFFILIATE CODE http://quickanddirtytips.com/amazon

Transcript

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0:00.0	Grammar girl here, I'm in Yon Fuggedy.
0:08.4	This week I have a quick and dirty tip about formatting sentences that use the words not
0:13.4	only, but also.
0:15.1	A tidbit about the phrase to leave someone in the lurch, and a meaty middle about the
0:20.8	origin of the names of the months.
0:23.5	Let's get started with a quick and dirty tip.
0:26.2	Not only is followed by, but also.
0:29.8	It's considered good form to make sure the parts that follow each set of words are form
0:34.6	out of the same way.
0:36.4	For example, this sentence is good because it uses two noun phrases.
0:42.1	Ardvark is not only a great fisherman, but also a great friend.
0:47.5	A great fisherman is a noun phrase, and it follows not only.
0:52.3	And a great friend is a noun phrase, and it follows, but also.
0:56.8	But sometimes people write sentences like this, where the parts aren't parallel, and that
1:02.8	can be called out as bad style.
1:05.9	Ardvark is not only a great fisherman, but also works hard to be a good friend.
1:12.1	A great fisherman follows not only and is a noun phrase, but works hard to be a good friend,
1:19.4	and it follows, but also, and is a verb phrase.
1:23.2	Since one is a noun phrase and one is a verb phrase, they don't match, grammatically,
1:27.9	and that's why it's bad.
1:29.9	If you really want to use a verb phrase, you can rewrite the first part to match like
1:34.4	this.
	...

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