Question

Use ‘not only…but also’ and combine the following sentences;
She missed my birthday party. She did not care to explain the reason.
A) She not only missed my birthday party but also did not care to explain the reason.
B) Not only she missed my birthday party, but also did not care to explain the reason.
C) She missed not only my birthday party but also did not care to explain the reason.
D) She missed my birthday party, not only but also, did not care to explain the reason.

Answer 1

Hint: We are trying to use correlative conjunction here, which is ‘not only…but also’. This is generally used to combine two factual statements where the first phrase denotes ‘what has happened in the past’ and the second phrase shows ‘what happened later.

Complete answer:
Let us see where to use ‘not only… but also’ and the correct format of usage of ‘not only … but also’;
- When two words in the same place need to be emphasized or if two phrases need to be emphasized then the connecting verb that we can use is ‘not only…but also’.
In general we can give a format and a few examples;
- Subject + verb + not only + () + but also + (); these parenthesis can be replaced with adjectives, nouns or adverbs, but remember that both the parenthesis should contain the same word form.
- Subject + not only + () + but also + (); here parenthesis can be replaced with any verb.
Eg: Tonie is not only beautiful but also brilliant.
Eg: Tonie dances not only excellently but also gracefully.
Eg: Tonie dances not only western but also classical.
Eg: Tonie not only dances well but also swims flawlessly.

After reading the question, try combining the two statements in your own way. But remember that this is the format we are using to attempt this question
“ Subject + not only + verb + but also + verb.”

As long as we know the verbs we are good to go. Here the first verb is ‘missed’ and the second verb is ‘did not’. Now see which option combines the conjunctions correctly;
Option (A) is correct, this sentence clearly follows the right format because ‘missed’ (the first verb) comes after ‘not only’ and similarly ‘did not’ (the second verb) comes exactly after ‘but also’. This is the right usage of the conjunction hence we choose this option to be right.
Option (B) is incorrect as there is a mistake in the format, ‘but also’ takes the right position but ‘she’, a pronoun, is coming after ‘not only’. This is not accepted because ‘not only’ should come after the verb ‘missed’ and not after the subject ‘she’.
Option (C) is incorrect since here even though ‘but also’ is placed correctly, the placement of ‘not only’ is wrong. We know that here there are two verbs ‘missed’ and ‘did not’, so by the format the verbs have to come after ‘not only’ and ‘but also’ respectively. But here ‘missed’ comes before the ‘not only’ thereby altering the meaning of the sentence.
Option (D) is incorrect as it is not acceptable to put the conjunction ‘not only but also’ together, it must always be put separately because that is the way to use this correlative conjunction.
So the final statement that rightfully combines the conjunction is in option (A).

Thus the correct answer is option ‘A’ i.e, She not only missed my birthday party but also did not care to explain the reason.

Note: To put in general the conjunction will be any term that connects two or more clauses, phrases, or words. There are a variety of conjunctions available, but some of the most common ones can be listed:- or, and, or, because, but, if, for, when.