Sometimes “Only” Should Come First

rogersgeorge on November 26th, 2018

I occasionally point out times when people write “only” too early in a sentence. Such as here and here.

The rule is that in English (not necessarily other languages) adjectives, such as “only,” should come directly before the word they modify, particularly when you have more than one word that it could modify.

Sometimes the correct word is the first one! For example:

Pearls Before Swine Comic Strip for September 23, 2018 — https://www.gocomics.com/pearlsbeforeswine/2018/09/23

The donkey’s three-times-repeated reply is correct! He only wants.

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Rogers George has been a technical writer for more than 20 years. He has written on subjects as diverse as outhouse assembly, restaurant reviews, software, information security, and scientific equipment. He has his own writing consultancy and is always happy to discuss writing and grammar. Drop him a line at curmudgeon@writing-rag.com.

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