Question

Combine the sentences using "Not only... but also" conjunction:
He choreographed the dance. He was a part of the performers.

• A. He not only choreographed the dance, but was also a part of the performers.
• B. He choreographed not only the dance, but also, he was a part of the performers.
• C. He choreographed the dance, not only, but also was a part of the performers.
• D. He choreographed not only the dance, but also was a part of the performers.

Answer 1

The correct option is A He not only choreographed the dance, but was also a part of the performers.

"Not only... but also" is a correlative conjunction which always appears in these word pairs. It is used to present two related pieces of information, with the second one being more surprising than the first. The most important rule to remember about using this conjunction is that both the pieces of information must be parallel structures. i.e. the words following both parts of this conjunction (i.e both "not only" and "but also") should belong to the same part of speech. For example, if a verb follows "not only", then a verb should follow "but also".

In the given example, the two pieces of information describe two actions which the same subject (the pronoun- "he") did i.e (a) choreographed the dance; (b) was a part of the performers.

Option A: The word following "not only" is "choreographed", which is a verb. The word following "but also" is "was", which is also a verb. Hence, this option is grammatically correct.

Option B: The word following "not only" is "the dance", which is a noun. The word following "but also" is "he", which is a pronoun. The two parts of speech are different. Hence this option is grammatically incorrect.

Option C: Here, the word pairs - "not only" and "but also" follow each other in sequence without any words in between. However, to be grammatically correct: The words "not only" is followed by one part of the sentence and "but also" is followed by another part of the sentence. Hence, this option is incorrect.

Option D: The words following "Not only" is "the dance", which is a noun. The word following "but also" is "was", which is a verb. The two parts of speech are different. Hence, this is grammatically incorrect and this option is incorrect.