It is not ... but ... (correct structure) - English Language ...

How should I use "not A but B" structure in my sentence? EnglishLanguage&UsageStackExchangeisaquestionandanswersiteforlinguists,etymologists,andseriousEnglishlanguageenthusiasts.Itonlytakesaminutetosignup. Signuptojointhiscommunity Anybodycanaskaquestion Anybodycananswer Thebestanswersarevotedupandrisetothetop Home Public Questions Tags Users Unanswered Teams StackOverflowforTeams –Collaborateandshareknowledgewithaprivategroup. CreateafreeTeam WhatisTeams? Teams CreatefreeTeam Teams Q&Aforwork Connectandshareknowledgewithinasinglelocationthatisstructuredandeasytosearch. Learnmore Itisnot...but...(correctstructure) AskQuestion Asked 1year,3monthsago Active 1year,3monthsago Viewed 1ktimes 0 Isitcorrecttosay: Thefactorthatpreventsdatafromalteringisnot'X',but'Y'and 'Z'. Orasalternative: Thefactorthatpreventsdatafromalteringisnot'X',butrather'Y'and 'Z'. Thepurposeistosaythattheyare'Y'and'Z'whichcanpreventdatafromaltering,andnot'X'. Note:'X','Y'and'Z'canbereplacedbyanyword(asafactor). grammaticality Share Improvethisquestion Follow askedSep9'20at17:43 QuestionerQuestioner 11322goldbadges22silverbadges77bronzebadges 2 Yourtwoexamplesseemtodifferonlyintheword"rather",which,inthatcontext,meansapproximately"onthecontrary". – Greybeard Sep9'20at17:46 1 There'sajarringparallelism:'thefactoris...YandZ' – EdwinAshworth Sep9'20at17:51 Addacomment  |  1Answer 1 Active Oldest Votes 2 Youareaskingabouthowtoexpressalogicalrelationshipinawaythatisunambiguouslyclear.Youarerightthatthereisakindofclashbetweenthesingularnounandthetwo(andsoplural)nouncomplements. Iwouldsaymyselfthatintheoriginalsentencethereisapresumptioninfavouryourintendedmeaning:"isnot'X'but'(XandZ)'. Butthatpresumptiondoesnotremovethedissonanceorthepossibilityofmisunderstanding. Intheexpressionthereisoroughttobearulethatwherewearedealingwithlegal,scientific,technicalorlogicalmatters,precisiontrumpsbrevityandelegance.Sosayexactlywhatyoumean.Idonotthinkthesinglequoteswilldothatjob. SoIwouldsuggestthatyouhavetosay"YandZtogether",or"YtogetherwithZ";or,perhapsbetterstill,"acombinationofYandZ". Thefactorthatpreventsdatafromalteringisnot'X'butthecombinationof'Y'and'Z'. Share Improvethisanswer Follow answeredSep9'20at18:47 TuffyTuffy 8,98522goldbadges1313silverbadges3131bronzebadges 1 1 Iagree,youneedeithersomewaytomakeYandZintoasingularnoun,ordrop"factor...prevents"foradifferentconstruction,eg,usebecauseor(yuck!)thepassivevoice-dataarepreventedfrombeingalterednotby.... – DavidS Sep10'20at3:46 Addacomment  |  YourAnswer ThanksforcontributingananswertoEnglishLanguage&UsageStackExchange!Pleasebesuretoanswerthequestion.Providedetailsandshareyourresearch!Butavoid…Askingforhelp,clarification,orrespondingtootheranswers.Makingstatementsbasedonopinion;backthemupwithreferencesorpersonalexperience.Tolearnmore,seeourtipsonwritinggreatanswers. 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