not only...but also — escalates from expected to additional benefit
verb agrees with the nearer subject in neither/nor and either/or pairs
0 / 5 completed
1 / 5
An RFC states: "The migration script must _____ validate the schema _____ roll back automatically on failure." Which correlative pair correctly links the two required behaviors?
"Both / and" correctly links two things that are simultaneously true or required — here, the script must do both actions. "Either / or" presents mutually exclusive alternatives, which contradicts "must... and". "Neither / nor" negates both items, and "not only / but also" would work grammatically but adds an emphasis of surprise/escalation that the neutral requirement statement does not need.
2 / 5
Choose the sentence with correct correlative conjunction and subject-verb agreement: a postmortem discussing two possible root causes.
"Neither... nor" is the correct paired conjunction (not "neither... or", option C). With correlative subjects, the verb agrees with the nearer subject — here "the upstream service" (singular), so was is correct, not were (option A). Option D breaks the parallel structure by inverting word order after "nor".
3 / 5
A design proposal reads: "The new cache layer _____ reduces latency _____ simplifies the retry logic." Which pair best emphasizes an additional, stronger-than-expected benefit?
"Not only... but also" is used specifically to build up from an expected benefit to a more notable, additional one — ideal for persuasive technical writing that highlights a bonus advantage. "Both / and" is neutral and doesn't convey escalation. "Whether / or" introduces alternatives or uncertainty, and "neither / nor" would negate both claims, the opposite of the intended meaning.
4 / 5
Which sentence demonstrates correct grammatical parallelism after a correlative conjunction pair in a technical spec?
Correlative conjunctions require parallel grammatical structure on both sides. In option B, both verbs after "either" and "or" are bare infinitives (return, throw), matching the modal "should". Option A mixes a bare infinitive with a gerund (throwing); option C does the reverse. Option D is grammatical but places "either" awkwardly and adds a redundant "too", which is less precise for a specification.
5 / 5
In a code review comment — "This function is used _____ for logging _____ for auditing, so extracting a shared interface makes sense" — which pair is correct and idiomatic?
"Both... and" is the standard correlative pair for listing two simultaneous uses. "Both... as well as" (option A) is a common error — "as well as" is not the correlative partner of "both" and creates redundancy. "Either... nor" (option C) mismatches negative and positive correlatives. "So... that" (option D) introduces a result clause, not a parallel listing structure, and doesn't fit the sentence's meaning.