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Think of an advertisement slogan for example. What would be a short form expression of "Not just a book" in Japanese, meaning that "it is not only a book, but more than just a book"?

Is

本だけではない。

a correct and natural expression for that? I know, that

本だけ

means "just a book". However, I don't know what the correct grammatical expression is, since a specific meaning is behind the phrase "Not just a book".

I look forward to your help.

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3

本だけではない is completely grammatical, but means "There is a book and something other than a book," or "A book is not the only thing that can do it" rather than "This is something better than an ordinary book."

To say the latter, how about something like "単なる本ではない", "本を超えた本" or "本以上の何か"?

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  • 3
    I might also add: ただの本ではない – psosuna Feb 23 '18 at 0:00
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    There are a book.... should be There *is* a book ... The English to be verb is troublesome sometimes. :) – ajsmart Feb 23 '18 at 0:08
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    @ajsmart Okay, I thought using are is more conservative, but looks like using is is the natural choice rather than an acceptable choice now :) Thank you for pointing this out. – naruto Feb 23 '18 at 1:29

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