Not only … but also

‘Not only … but also’ is not only the title of a classic English comedy show starring the legendary Peter Cook and Dudley Moore (sadly, both deceased), but also a word combination much loved by many but better avoided (as I just failed to do – on purpose, of course). The ‘also’ is redundant; remove it from the sentence above and the sense is unaltered, because the ‘not only’ implies that something else is coming up. In fact, it’s often possible to remove or replace ‘but also’ and ‘not only’ and arrive at a much simpler and equally effective sentence. See the following examples.

• The hepatitis C virus is not only a major cause of liver cancer, but also produces symptoms very like chronic fatigue syndrome in some sufferers.
• The hepatitis C virus is not only a major cause of liver cancer, it produces symptoms very like chronic fatigue syndrome in some sufferers.

• Peter Cook was not only the funniest man who ever drew breath but also outrageously intelligent.
• Peter Cook was not only the funniest man who ever drew breath, he was outrageously intelligent.
• Peter Cook was the funniest man who ever drew breath, and outrageously intelligent.

As I blogged earlier this week, I’m a devotee of George Orwell’s five principles of simplicity in writing, one of which is:

• If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out

‘Not only … but also’ fails this criterion! Give it a miss.