Another Misplaced Modifier
I usually pontificate about “only” being too far from what it refers to (Look up “only” in the search box on the upper right). But here’s an example with “just.” Always put these words right next to what they refer to.
In case you don’t get the joke, she’s not talking about getting her hair done, but about how recently the hair was done, and she wants the hairdo to last longer than a week.
See? Word order makes a difference.
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Sigh—Another Hobbyhorse of Mine
A misplaced “only”! Always put “only” immediately before the word it modifies, not at the beginning of the whole clause.
It’s “We need only one.” harrumpf.
You can find more examples of this pleonasm by doing a search in the upper right corner for “only.”
A Good “Only”
Putting “only” too early in the sentence is one of my hobbyhorses. Put the word right in front of what it refers to. Like this guy. You can skip to the last panel.
Yay! He didn’t put “only” in front of “means.”
Another Correct “Only”
In the grammatical sense anyway. One of my hobby horses is to oppose putting “only” too soon in the sentence. Do a search on only to find more examples.
Many people put “only” in the location equivalent to right before “toilets,” but if you put it there, the error is too obvious to miss.
You could argue that the really correct place for “only” would be before “someone.” That allows for the toilet to work at least some of the time at someone else’s house.
Usually I See this Mistake using “Only”
This time we have a misplaced “Almost.”
Almost constructed entirely of repurposed and recycled scrap materials, Elis set out to create a welcoming villa suitable for parties and guests from his artistic circles.
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/villa-mehu
Look up “only” in the search box for my pontifications on the subject of where adjectives go—directly before what they modify, not at the beginning of the clause.
As written, the sentence says that the villa wasn’t quite constructed. I’m pretty sure the intent was to refer to the amount of repurposed and scrap materials.
Don’t you do that!
The article has several other pictures.
