but

adjective + BUT + adjective + noun (complex noun phrase)

ADJECTIVES, B2, but, CONJUNCTIONS, NOUNS, phrases

Here are some examples of this form:
Being nice to someone is a SIMPLE BUT EFFECTIVE WAY of making friends.
Some herbs like MOIST BUT WELL-DRAINED SOIL.
I am making SLOW BUT STEADY PROGRESS with my language learning.
Although she is usually easy to get along with, she does have a RARE BUT SERIOUS SIDE to her personality too.
A SMALL BUT SIGNIFICANT NUMBER of students didn’t pass the test.

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may … but (unexpected)

B2, CONJUNCTIONS, expectation, MODALITY

In the English Grammar Profile, B2 point 146 in MODALITY for OPINIONs is defined as: ‘may’ … ‘but’ to express an unexpected point of view. Here are some expert examples: You may not be able to leave every job where you‘re treated unfairly, but in a perfect world, one without racism and sexism and the frictions associated with finding a new job,  it‘s your sense of fairness that would let you know when it was time to move on. listen You may have no tongue, but there is nothing wrong with your ears. listen A search on iWeb corpus for may * * * * but 1 MAY

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not only but also

B2, C1, CLAUSES, CONJUNCTIONS, coordinating, FOCUS, inversion, NEGATIVE, position

B2 example: Our volunteers know that the families who benefit from his generosity  not only appreciate his action but take extra pleasure in knowing that it comes with the compliments of Mrs Brown, an iconic and internationally famous Dublin mother. C1 example: Not only did this virus continue in the places where they’d already become infected, but then it started to escalate and we saw the case numbers that you see here, something we’d never seen before on such a scale, an exponential increase of Ebola

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