A Real-world 'Only' Conundrum

 

A while back, one of my copy editing students noted a little discrepancy in one of the course’s editing exercises. Her task was to edit a document that included a passage like this:

 “The crusader for grammar strives for the kind of consistency and stability that one only finds in a dead language like Latin. The authors, who only want to express themselves in their own style, tire quickly of the unyielding crusader.”

 The answer key showed she should have transposed “only finds” to make it “finds only.” But it left “only want” intact. My student wanted to know why.

 Well, I didn’t write the exercise or the answer key. So I wasn’t sure what the creator of the document had been thinking. Instead, I told her I would have done the exact same thing. That is, I would have moved the first only but left the second where it was.

 Here’s what I told her:

"The use of 'only' is kind of controversial. Some people say it must immediately precede the word or phrase it modifies. Compare 'I only have eyes for you' with 'I have eyes for only you.' If it's modifying 'have,' it means I have eyes for you but I don't blink eyes for you or pluck out eyes for you or search eyes for you, etc. The act of 'having' is the 'only' thing I do with them. Others say that's just not true. There's no such rule.

"But we copy editors should keep this debate in mind so we can remember to make sure that onlys are being used as clearly and precisely as possible. To say you find something only in a dead language is more precise than saying you only find it in a dead language. (After all, couldn't you also discover it, interpret it, infer it, reveal it, argue for it, etc., in a dead language?)

 "So why is the second sentence any different? Here's my interpretation: This is a different meaning of 'only.' In the first example, it means 'exclusively.' In the second example, it means 'merely.'

 I would argue that the only in 'one finds it only in a dead language' is an adverb modifying the verb 'find.' But I'd argue that in 'They only want to express themselves,' it's a sentence adverb meaning 'merely.'" 

 I hope she bought it.

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