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I was about to ask a question but I can't without first confirming,

Is this sentence:

彼は映画スターであり、政治家もだ。

grammatically correct, and mean:

He is a movie star and also a politician.

==
Follow-up question here: Why does replacing だ to である changes the meaning of a the sentence?

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  • 2
    The correct formation is 〜でもある, not 〜もだ (which means something else).
    – Zhen Lin
    Aug 27, 2011 at 7:10
  • is it true that the sentence in the title although grammatical, means something like "he is a star, (that) politician is also a star" ?
    – Pacerier
    Aug 27, 2011 at 7:28
  • "He's a movie star as well as a politician."
    – rdb
    Aug 27, 2011 at 8:03
  • I think it's ok "彼は映画スターとともに、政治家もである。"
    – ZarNge
    Aug 27, 2011 at 8:26
  • 1
    彼は映画スターであり、政治家もだ means “He is a movie star, and a politician is a movie star, too,” which is a strange thing to say and not what you want it to mean. Sep 11, 2011 at 20:00

3 Answers 3

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Recall that is the contracted form of である. has to be attached to a noun. You can't leave it behind as もである. So the correct way of inserting will be:

彼は政治家でもある

You might be wondering whether before can be omitted. Only arguments can have the (case) particle omitted before or . In this case, the noun 政治家 is a predicate, so you cannot omit before .

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  • ok just to confirm, you are saying 彼は映画スターであり、政治家もだ。 is grammatically wrong because a もだ can never be together. and so (regardless of context,) 僕もだ。is also grammatically wrong because a もだ can never be togerther?
    – Pacerier
    Aug 28, 2011 at 22:28
  • With 僕もだ, is an argument, so there is an omitted case particle before , and the predicate after 僕も is omitted.
    – user458
    Aug 29, 2011 at 2:48
  • Hi, to be clear, when you say "the predicate after 僕も is omitted", are you referring to だ ?
    – Pacerier
    Sep 14, 2011 at 9:39
  • @Pacerier No. 映画スター is omitted from 彼は映画スターであり、僕も映画スターだ.
    – user458
    Sep 14, 2011 at 12:05
  • ic =D, Just a quick question: is である both a 連体形 and a 終止形 of the copula だ ?
    – Pacerier
    Sep 14, 2011 at 18:52
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I can't comment in the comment section since I just joined, but the usual way of saying this would probably be 「映画スターだけではなく or だけじゃなくて、政治家もしている」. People often use 「する」 to talk about jobs. Also, 「であり」 is formal written style and would sound strange in conversation.

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Sounds odd. How about:

彼は俳優で、また政治家でもある。

Yeah, I don't like the word 映画スター too much.

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