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Correct use of the word "only" in English


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2019 Aug 23, 10:02am   523 views  4 comments

by Patrick   ➕follow (55)   💰tip   ignore  

The word "only" in English modifies the immediately following word, not words farther away. Consider these three sentences:

1. I only eat fish when I'm sick.
2. I eat only fish when I'm sick.
3. I eat fish only when I'm sick.

#1 is ambiguous. Does it mean #2 or #3? Literally, #1 means that one only eats fish, and doesn't, say, drink them, which is such nonsense that not even English speakers would choose that interpretation.

Sentences #2 and #3 are unambiguous. They make sense and cannot be misinterpreted.

I got a German degree before realizing that it is not very useful in getting a job because almost all Germans speak English quite well. But German is useful in understanding English better. In German, #1 is not even a possibility. The German language is very logical and more precise than English. This is one reason why Germans are more economically productive than Americans.

1. Ich nur esse Fisch wenn ich krank bin.
2. Ich esse nur Fisch wenn ich krank bin.
3. Ich esse Fisch nur wenn ich krank bin.

If you tried to say German sentence #1 to a German, he simply would not understand you, because you have not actually made sense. He would suspect you had just had a stroke or were extremely high.

This particular quirk of English has bothered me for years, so I had to write about it. Don't even get me started on the way English speakers answer "yes" to questions like "don't you want to..." German of course doesn't allow such nonsense there either. German has a third word, doch, in addition to ja and nein, which expresses an affirmative answer to a negative question.

And then there's the SNL skit where nuclear plant employees argue about the boss's instruction before he went on vacation: "Remember, you can't put too much water in a nuclear reactor!"

Thanks for reading. Hopefully your life will be slightly better now that you see these logical errors clearly.

Comments 1 - 4 of 4        Search these comments

1   FortwayeAsFuckJoeBiden   2019 Aug 23, 10:22am  

That’s pretty good. I only use words wrong when I type.
2   Patrick   2019 Aug 23, 10:24am  

Lol.

I only use words wrong when I type.
I use words wrong only when I type.

You could mean either one.
3   Ceffer   2019 Aug 23, 10:35am  

Only this is an opinion.

This only is an opinion.

This is only an opinion.

This is an opinion only.
4   thenuttyneutron   2019 Aug 23, 12:28pm  

It is ok. We all have pet peeves.

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