Inverted structures are tested on the GMAT in two broad parallel structures/correlatives
- Not only..But/But also/ also correlative
- Not only X but also Y
- Not only X but Y
- Not only X also Y
- Not X nor Y
First, let us understand what inversion means. Inverted structures are structures in which (a part of) the main verb appears before the subject – this is similar to the construction that we would use when asking a question. Note that this is different from normal sentences because in most of the normal constructions, the subject appears before the verb – e.g., John (S) goes (V) to the office, Sam (S) went (V) to school, etc. In inverted structures, the structure of the normal subject verb placement within a clause is inverted – i.e., the verb appears before the subject. Let us look at a few examples:
Not only is (v) John (s) a teacher but he (s) is (v) also a cricketer
Not only are (v1) thieves (s) able (v2) to divert cash from company bank accounts, they (s) can (v2) also pilfer the data
He (S) does (V) not go to the classes nor does (v1) he (s) complete (v2) the homework.
For inverted structures, the parallel construction idea is that if the construction is inverted in one half of the correlative, the second half of the pair must have the complete clause appearing in the normal order – i.e, in the second half, we need a full subject + verb, with the subject coming before the verb. Note that in the above examples – the second half of the pair containing an inversion has the complete clause.
In the “not X nor Y” correlative, the inversion is mandatory and must always occur within the “nor” clause.
In the “not only..but/but also/also” correlative, the inversion is optional, and can ONLY occur within the “not only” clause – in the second half, we need a complete clause. The GMAT does not directly distinguish between the subtle differences among Not only .. But, Not only..But also, and Not only..also. Additionally, the placement of the clause in the second half of the “not only..but” So, on the GMAT, any of the following constructions would be considered parallel and acceptable, and we would want to split on some other distinction among the options –
Not only are (v1) thieves (s) able (v2) to divert cash from company bank accounts, they (s) can (v2) also pilfer the data
Not only are (v1) thieves (s) able (v2) to divert cash from company bank accounts, but they (s) can (v2) also pilfer the data
Not only are (v1) thieves (s) able (v2) to divert cash from company bank accounts, but also they (s) can (v2) also pilfer the data
Not only are (v1) thieves (s) able (v2) to divert cash from company bank accounts, also they (s) can (v2) also pilfer the data
In the “not only..(but)(also)” correlative, we only need the full clause (sub+verb) in the second half when the “not only” half is inverted. If the “not only” clause does not have an inverted structure, then normal parallelism rules apply. For example,
John is not only a teacher but also a cricketer.
In the following example, having a full clause in the second half would be incorrect. So, the below sentence would be non parallel.
John is not only a teacher but he is also a musician XXX
This is because, when a sentence is in the normal order, we can always take a phrase as the common phrase, which would be applicable to the entire structure. In the above sentence, the words “John is” is common to the whole correlative, and hence, in the second half, we only need to match the part of speech within “not only” (in this case, we want something parallel to a noun – “a teacher”). Similarly, in the following sentence –
John not only is a teacher but also plays cricket
we are putting two verbs in parallel.
However, when the structure is INVERTED, the complete clause appears within the “not only” part of the correlative. Therefore, there is absolutely nothing that we can take as common words/phrases to the structure. For example, in the sentence –
Not only is it raining but it is also windy
There is no “common phrase” to the correlative
Therefore, the only way to maintain the parallelism is to repeat the complete structure – noun + verb – in the second half. The only constraint is that the second half must have the structure in the normal order – i.e., the subject appearing before the verb.
Hope this post clarifies the structure that needs to be maintained to allow parallel construction of both clauses in an inverted construction. Happy prepping!
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