46613
> この女の人はペンチ **ではなく** 、ハンマーを使っています。

I believe the sentence means

> The woman is using a hammer, not a pliers.

But I couldn't understand ではなく, how is this structure formed?
CC BY-SA 4.0
2017-04-15T18:30:45.490
46606
2020-12-31T08:14:36.223
2020-12-31T08:14:36.223
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question
syntax particle-は negation copula renyōkei
How is ではなく formed?
* で: The continuative form of the copula だ.
  * は: The topic/contrast marker は, [which is optional](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/8280/5010) but [is usually placed here](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/1077/5010). では can be contracted to じゃ in casual settings.
  * なく: The continuative form of ない.
  * (て): なく can be followed by an optional て. In casual conversation て tends to be used, and in formal essays て tends to be dropped.

Put together this literally means "not being ～". Practically this can be used
wherever a noun can be used in a sentence, and means "not ～ (but ～)". This can
be used with adverbs, too.

>   * 彼ではなく私がやりました。 ＝ 彼じゃなくて私がやりました。
>   * 彼は壁を赤くではなく青く塗った。
>   * ゆっくりではなく、急いで来てください。
>
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2017-04-16T02:44:32.643
46613
2017-04-16T02:44:32.643
5010
46606
answer