不只…而且/還/也…grammar point · tier 2 · additive scale 不只…而且/還/也… (not only … but also …)
Grants a first quality or member, then adds a further one that goes beyond it; the two stack on the same subject.
字源 FORM what the parts do
不 cancels 只, the only — so one item can no longer be the whole count. 而且 joins on a second clause, 還 keeps the tally going, 也 sets the next item level with the first; any one of the three fills the back bracket.
故事 STORY a scene to remember it by
One thing sits on a wide table with room left over; a second is set down beside it, then a third stacked on top, the count climbing past the first.
You have one true thing to say and a second that goes further; you want both, with the second landing as the bigger point.
序 · The move
1Put the first, already-granted claim after 不只.Is this the smaller, expected half? If it is the surprise, the brackets are swapped.
2Open the back clause with 而且, 還, or 也.而且 / 還 add a heavier point; 也 sets an equal item alongside.
3State the further claim, the one that should land last.Does it go beyond the first, not merely repeat it?
例 · Examples
1這輛車不只not only便宜cheap，還also; on top of that很好開easy to drive。
This car is not only cheap, it also drives well.
界 · Boundary
不但…還/也…
Both stack a second clause for not only … but also, and both fill the back bracket with 還/也. 不但 negates 但 (merely) and stays clause-to-clause, pairing most readily with 而且; 不只 negates 只 (the count) and can also open a noun phrase, 不只我 not just me, where 不但我 does not hold.
連…都… drives to one extreme case, even the hardest one holds; 不只…還… adds a second, separate claim on top of the first. 連 picks the limit point; 不只 counts upward.
（也）…也…
（也）…也… lays two items flat as equals from the start; 不只…還… grants one first, then climbs to a further one that outweighs it.
✗ 這輛車不只便宜。 → ✓ 這輛車不只便宜，還很好開。 (不只 needs a second clause; it cannot close alone.)
✗ 不只便宜還這輛車很好開。 → ✓ 這輛車不只便宜，還很好開。 (both halves describe the same subject; the subject leads, the two claims follow.)
✗ 這輛車不只很好開，還便宜。 → ✓ 這輛車不只便宜，還很好開。 (the heavier point goes in the back bracket, not the front.)
English not only … but also brackets the same way, but lets the second half restate the first for emphasis; 不只…還… wants a genuinely further claim in the back clause, not a paraphrase of the front.