How to use ONLY correctly Basic English Grammar

hi everybody my name is Alisha and today

I’m going to talk about the correct use
of the word only let’s take a look at a

few examples and see how moving the word
only around in a sentence can change the

meaning of the sentence alright let’s
begin

first I want to define the word only and
how I’m going to use it for this lesson

the word only for this lesson we’re
going to look at it as an adverb so an

adverb which means a single case or a
single instance of something so there’s

nothing different nothing more nothing
less there’s just this one thing this

one case of something but I want to
focus for this lesson on the importance

of the position of only in a sentence so
one key to keep in mind when you use the

word only and this is a point for native
speakers and for non-native speakers we

need to place the word only as close as
possible to the word or to the phrase

that it modifies and by modifies I mean
only is connected to that phrase only is

changing that phrase in some way and
when I say places that place it as close

as possible to that word I mean before
that word it needs to come before the

word it’s changing before the word it’s
modifying so I want to show a few

examples of how to do this but I’m going
to move the word only around in the same

sentence so let’s take a look I’ll show
you what I mean let’s take a look at

this this sentence the base sentence
here is Sara saw Michael at the park a

simple sentence so there are two people
involved one action in this case the

past tense of soft and then a location
at the park but I’m going to use the

word only here in a few different
positions to show how much it can change

the meaning of the sentence depending on
where we place it so the first example

here I have is only Sara saw Michael at
the park here the word only comes before

Sara so that means that these two words
are connected only is modifying Sara in

this
case this sentence therefore means that

Sarah
perhaps in a group of people or with

somebody else Sarah was the only person
the single person who saw Michael at the

park maybe there were other people in
the group she was with but she was the

single person the only person who saw
Michael so only Sarah saw Michael at the

park that’s the meaning with the
placement of only before Sarah here

let’s look at the next sentence Sarah
only saw Michael at the park so here

only is coming before the word saw so in
this case it’s modifying this verb saw

this sentence therefore means that Sarah
the only thing Sarah did her only action

was to see she only saw Michael at the
park meaning no other actions happened

Sarah did not wave to Michael Sarah did
not greet Michael Sarah did not throw

something at Michael whatever there was
no other action the only action the

single action the sole action was that
she saw Michael Sarah only saw Michael

at the part so the placement before the
verb gives us this meaning let’s look at

one more example Sarah saw only Michael
at the park here only comes before

Michael in this case so the connection
the modification is happening here Sarah

saw only Michael at the park means she
did not see any other people at the park

so this could mean that there were no
other people at the park or that maybe

she just she just didn’t see anybody at
the park so this sentence is a little

bit tricky it’s a little hard to
understand exactly what the writer wants

to say but it could mean that there were
perhaps no people at the park no other

people at the park that Sarah saw so she
went to the park she saw only Michael

there was only one person a single
person it was Michael that Sarah saw so

placing only before in this case Michael
gives us this meaning all right one more

sentence Sarah saw Michael only at the
park so here the word only

coming before this phrase at the park
this location in this case meaning that

there was a single place where Sarah saw
Michael so Sarah did not see Michael at

the supermarket she did not see him at
the store she did not see him at school

she saw him only at the park so there’s
a single location where she saw Michael

so these four sentences show us how much
the meaning of a sentence can change

depending on our placement of the of the
word only so it’s important to keep in

mind another thing that I’ve done
throughout this lesson a little bit is

I’ve emphasized with my voice the word
that only is modifying but I want to

make one more point here in speech when
actually speaking we can stress words

for emphasis and for clarity to make it
very clear which word in the sentence we

want to emphasize which word we want
only to modify so for example I can say

only Sarah saw Michael at the park or
Sarah only saw Michael at the park so

with your voice you have the ability to
emphasize certain words and certain

phrases in the sentences
however in in writing it’s not possible

to do this so correct placement of the
word only is quite important so I wanted

to give you a few examples and it’s just
something to think about the next time

you use the word only so make sure that
you’re placing the word only as close as

possible to the word that it modifies so
just something to keep in mind all right

so that’s it for this lesson if you have
any questions or comments please feel

free to let us know in the comment
section below this video if you liked

the video give it a thumbs up subscribe
to the channel and check us out at

English class 101.com
for some other resources thanks very

much for watching this lesson and I’ll
see you again soon