Not only…but also是英语中比较常见的一个关联词组，用于连接两个表示并列关系的成分，着重强调后者。它的意思是“不仅 … 而且 ...”；其中的also有时可以省略。由于它的用法比较复杂，本文拟对其用法及其使用中应注意的问题作一归纳。
一、主要用法
1．连接主语：
Not only I but also Tom and Mary are fond of watching television.
不仅我，而且汤姆和玛丽都喜欢看电视。
Not only Jim but also his wife saw her.
不但吉姆而且他妻子也见到了她。
2．连接谓语动词
The Americans and the British not only speak the same language but also share a large number of social customs.
英国人和美国人不但语言相同，而且有很多相同的风俗习惯。
注意not only…but also连接的动词一般不重复，这与汉语不同。如汉语说“我不仅懂英语，而且懂俄语”，英语则说“I know not only English but also Russian”，而不说“I not only know English but also know Russian”.再如：“气体不仅改变形状，而且改变体积”，英译为“A gas changes not only in shape but also in volume.”（注意介词常重复）
3．连接宾语：
The problem for the recipient was trying to guess not only who the sender was, but also what his secret feelings might be.
收信人不仅要尽力猜出是谁的，还要推测寄信人内心有什么想法。
4．连接宾语补足语：
Light and bright colors make people not only happier but more active.
浅色和鲜艳的颜色不但使人看了高兴，也会使人更加活泼。
5．连接表语：
Shakespeare was not only a writer but (also) an actor。
莎士比亚不仅是一位剧作家，而且是一位演员。
6．连接状语：
If your friend reminds you kindly of your faults, take what he says not merely pleasantly but thank fully.
如果低你的朋友善意地指明出你的缺点，你不但要欣然接受，而且要心怀感激之情。
7．连接从句：
He didn’t let us off the hook until we had proved not only that we knew what an organism was but also that we had the fortitude to stand up for the truth.
直到我们证明了我们不仅知道什么是生物体，而且具有坚持真理的不屈不挠精神时，他这才放过我们。
8．连接定语：
Man has become master not only of the sky but also of the space. 人类不但征服了天空，而且征服了太空。
9．连接句子：
I not only heard it, but (also) I saw it.
我不仅听到、而且看到了它。
Not only…but also连接句子时, not only 可以置于句首表示强调,这时第一分句要采用倒装结构。例如：
Not only has he a first-class brain but also he is a tremendously hard worker.
他不仅有着头等聪明的脑子，而且工作很能吃苦。
Not only had the poor man been arrested but he had been sent to prison as well.
这个可怜的人不仅被逮捕，而且被投进监狱。
Not only do the professors have their own ideas on the matter, but the students have theirs too.
对这件事不仅教授们有自己的看法，学生们也有自己的想法。
10．用于 it is…that 强调结构
It is not only the scientist and the physician who need a long special training now, but the computer expert, the accountant, and the business manager.
现在，不仅科学家和医生需要长期的专门训练，计算机专家、会计师和企业经理也需要这种训练。
It is not only what we do, but also what we do not do, for which we are accountable.
我们不但要对我们所做的事负责，而且要对我们没有去做的事负责。
二、not only…but的省略及其变体
1．Not only…but also中的also可以省略。有人认为该句型所连接的第二部分最高级形容词或它所表示的范围、程度、影响等超过第一部分时，常将also省略。例如：
He was not only a successful writer but (also) the greatest poet of his time.
他不仅是一位成功的作家，而且是他那个时代最伟大的诗人。
He is famous not only in China but (also) in the whole world. 他不仅闻名中国，而且闻名全球。
Not only do they suffer less pain than most women in labor, but the town boasts an unusually low rate of infant mortality. 这不仅使她们比大多数产妇受痛苦，而且使城市婴儿死亡率大大降低。
2.not only…but also句型一般只省略also,但在连接句子时，有时也可见到省略but甚至but also的情形。例如：
Not only was I tired, I was also cold.我不光困倦， 还感到很冷。（省去了but）
George not only made an important friend, he also learned about the frontier. （省去了but）
Since moisture is needed for rain, dry air in the morning not only allows the spider to get an early start, is also means a dry day. 有了湿度才会下雨，因此，早晨空气干燥不仅使蜘蛛早点开始结网，而且意味着这一天不会下雨。（省去了but）
Not only bas she been an excellent wife, she has been a better husband than I’ll never be.
她不仅是一个极其出色的妻子，而且是一个我永远也做不到的好丈夫。（省去了but also）
Not only were there no traces of drinking water in the room, there was not sufficient water found in the dead star’s stomach to have comfortably taken the tablets with.
不仅房内没有饮用水的痕迹，在这位已故影星的胃里也没发现有把这些药丸舒适地送下去的水。（省去了but also)
3. not only…but also的形式比较固定，但也会出现but与also被分隔开来的情形。例如：
Not only the mother but the children are also sick.
不仅母亲，而且孩子们也生病了。
Not only is his right lung affected but his left lung is also.
他不但右肺被感染，而且左肺也被感染了。
4.not only A but also B的替代式常见的还有not only A but B…as well, not only A but B too, not merely A but also B, not just A but also B, not…alone…but 等。例如：
Not only my mother was unhappy, but Mary, too.
不但我妈妈不高兴，玛丽也不高兴。
In jurisprudence it is a well-known principle that justice should not merely be done but should also be seen to be done.
在法理学方面，人所共知的原则是：对受害者不仅应当公正对待，而且应当让人们看到他得到了公正的对待。
Not just the people of our nation, but all the people of the world have profited from his work.
不仅我们国家的人民，而且全世界所有的人民，都从他的研究工作中得到了好处。
Not poets alone, nor artists, nor that superior order of mind which arrogates to itself all refinement, feel this, but dogs and all men.
不仅诗人，艺术家以及那些自命不凡、思想杰出的人觉得如此，连狗和普通人也有同感。
三、注意事项
1．”not only A but also B”结构中的A和B通常是同等成分。由于同一成分常常由同一词类的词来担任，所以A与B常常也是同一词性，这从本文第一部分的例句中即可看到。但是，也有A与B属于不同词性的情形。如：”He is not only very clever, but also a very hard worker, and he likes to do everything well.（他不但聪明，而且能下功夫。他喜欢把每一件事都做得很好。）其中A是形容词，B是名词，但两者均在句中作表语，因此仍是正确句子。然而，在“He not only plays the piano, but also the violin.”一句中，A是动词，B是名词，不是同一成分，因此语法学家认为此句有点欠妥，至少在书面语中就是如此。如改为“He plays not only the piano, but also the violin”就无懈可击了，再看下面二例：
The surprise grant not only enabled Dad to finish A&T, but to graduate first in his class.这笔意外的奖学金不仅使我父亲能读完农业和技术学院，而且毕业成绩名列榜首。
1．Not only spoke English very carefully, but very clearly as well.
2．有人认为，not only…but also不能用于否定句。汉语中用于否定句中的“不但…而且”在英语中要用as well as 表示。如“不但我不想看戏，而且他也不想看戏”可译作“He, as well as I, doesn’t want to see the play.”不过，这条规则也有例外，请看下面二例：
Not only did none of us know how the crime was to be committed, we didn’t even know what the crime was to be!
Not only don’t I know the population of Nepal, I don’t know where in god’s world it is!我不但不知道尼泊尔人口，而且连它究竟在哪里也不知道！
这两个例句有几个共同点：都是连接否定分句，都是倒装句，都没有用but also。下面一例出自一位美国作家之手，所不同的是，not only…but连接的是并列谓语，第一个动词是否定的，第二个动词则是肯定的：
Nonetheless, as he described Mary’s attitudes her accomplishments, he found himself wishing that she cared more about the police side of his life than she seemed to, that she might understand it as intimately, say, as the woman opposite him. But this motion seemed to him so disloyal to Mary that he not only did not articulate it, but at once tried to suppress it.