「～もの、それは…」 Atypical sentence structure?


In this paragraph:

> 今から約20年前、携帯電話は日本ではほとんど普及していなかった。
> **当時小学生だった私が、憧れていたもの、それは携帯電話ではなく、ポケットベルだった。**

  1. Does this paragraph look natural for a native to write?
  2. What does もの mean in 憧れていたもの? Is it talking about a physical thing?
  3. In それは携帯電話ではなく, why is ではなく an adverb, why not ではない(verb)?
  4. Does the bold part translate to: "At that time I was a student but, there was a thing I wanted, that thing wasn't a cellphone, it was a pocket bell." 



  1. Yes it's perfectly natural.
  2. Yes it's 物, a physical "thing."
  3. This なく is a 連用形 (continuative form) of ない, and it can join two clauses. See: [なく vs. なくて and stem form vs. てform as conjunctions](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/2934/5010) and [Connecting phrases with the stem of masu-form](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/6412/5010)
  4. The literal translation would be as follows. Don't be deceived by the first comma; that が is the subject marker. See: [Reason for placing a comma between the subject and verb in this simple independent clause?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/27397/5010) In this case the comma was inserted simply because the subject part (当時小学生だった私) is a bit long. 

> 【｛（当時小学生だった→）私が憧れていた→ ｝もの 】、それは携帯電話ではなくポケットベルだった。  
>  The thing I, who was an elementary school student at that time, longed for
> -- that was not a cell phone but a pocket bell.



  1. Yes it's perfectly natural.
  2. Yes it's 物, a physical "thing."
  3. This なく is a 連用形 (continuative form) of ない, and it can join two clauses. See: [なく vs. なくて and stem form vs. てform as conjunctions](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/2934/5010) and [Connecting phrases with the stem of masu-form](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/6412/5010)
  4. The literal translation would be as follows. Don't be deceived by the first comma; that が is the subject marker. See: [Reason for placing a comma between the subject and verb in this simple independent clause?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/27397/5010) In this case the comma was inserted simply because the subject part (当時小学生だった私) is a bit long. 

> 【｛（当時小学生だった→）私が憧れていた→ ｝もの 】、それは携帯電話ではなくポケットベルだった。  
>  The thing I, who was an elementary school student at that time, longed for
> -- that was not a cell phone but a pocket bell.

