I want to express an idea: I failed to do something, B is another guy. Although he is better than me, he also coundn’t do this thing. Could I say:
Not only I but B can’t do this as well. / Not only I but alos B can’t do this.
Not only I can’t do this, but B can’t as well. / Not only I can’t do this, but also B can’t.
or
I can’t do this, neither he can.
Are all my sentences correct? Can they express the same meaning? Do they sound natural? If they don’t sound natural, could you give me any alternative suggestions? Please correct me if you find any mistake in my post. Thanks in anvance.
Many thanks for your reply and correction. Could you please explain a little more to me about why you said “not only can I” rather than " not only I can"? In your first sentence, you used the word “but” twice, is that a typo? Thanks again!
Thanks for pointing out the typo, which I have now corrected. After certain words like ‘not only’ ‘hardly’ ‘scarcely’ ‘never’ at the beginning of the sentence we usually have what is called inversion - verb followed by subject. Examples:
Never have I seen such a disaster.
Not only have we tried to explain the meaning but also to give examples.
Hardly had we got home when the letter arrived.
Scarcely had I written the letter when I saw the mistake.
Thank you, Alan, for you patient and detailed explanations, which really helped me out. :D(I don’t know if it is possible for me to say" patient explanations". I mean to say: Thank you for explaining those to me patiently. Perhaps the word ‘possible’ I used is not proper here. So please correct if any mistakes are found in my sentences. Thank you!).
A “patient explanation” is a bit unusual, as “patient” is mostly used with persons, but using it in this transferred sense is possible, and quite understandable.
“Possible” seems fine, you might also consider “correct” here.
I must admit I’ve never heard ‘patient’ being regarded as ‘unusual’ when applied to things rather than people. ‘Patient explanations’ is fine in my book.
Thank you, Alan. Your messages help me a lot as they always do. (I intended to say: Your messages are helpful as they always are. Or Your messages are as helpful as they were before. Please let me know if they make sense to you.) Wish you have a nice day! : )
Yes, I meant to say that it is less common with things than with people, by no means that it is odd with things. It is just that it has a transferred sense with things.
