COULD YOU HELP ME with TRICKY ONLY?

[Mr. Kyaw Min Lwin]

DEAR ENGLISH EXPERTS

When I was in high school I learned about TRICKY ONLY, in accordance with its placings no less than seven or eight. Now I almost forgot and whenever I tend to use them I get scared of them.

e.g -* I* don't *think* most of the ESL learners* will* forget the kind assistance* that* English Test Net* has *provided *them*.

I'm keen to learn how the meaning of the very sentence would change if we put only in the place of ( * ).

I'm looking forward to you explanation.
Love you,
kind regards.

[Ozzy For President]

Hello Mr. Kyaw Min Lwin,

Could you be a bit more specific with your question?

If I fill e.g. "only" in the places marked with "*", the sentence makes no sense to me.

You wrote:
e.g -* I* don't *think* most of the ESL learners* will* forget the kind assistance* that* English Test Net* has *provided *them*.

I'm keen to learn how the meaning of the very sentence would change if we put only in the place of ( * ).

++++++++++++

Kind regards,

Ozzy
_________________
I have learnt that "sorry" is not enough; sometimes you actually have to change.
Claire London.

[Mr. Kyaw Min Lwin]

Dear Ozzy,
What I need is if you could teach me more about Tricky Only. Please place ONLY where you think it is suitable, and of course if will change the meaning of the sentence accordingly?
e.g - 1. I only wanna be with you.
2. Only I wanna be with you. are different in meaning?
Thanks and kind regards.

[Mr. Kyaw Min Lwin]

Dear Ozzy,

What I need is if you could teach me more about Tricky Only. Please place ONLY where you think it is suitable, and of course it will change the meaning of the sentence accordingly?

e.g - 1. I only wanna be with you.
2. Only I wanna be with you. are different in meaning?
Thanks and kind regards.

[Ozzy For President]

There is only a slight difference in number 1 and 2; number 2 is a bit stronger in its sense.

I want to or I would like to are much more formal than "I wanna", which is slang.

I hope this clears your doubt.

Regards,

Ozzy
_________________
I have learnt that "sorry" is not enough; sometimes you actually have to change.
Claire London.

[Mr. Kyaw Min Lwin]

Dear Ozzy,

Yes, wanna , gotta, gonna are very informal.
My example sentence is a title of a song. So it's got to be informal.
I have some more wonderful placing for Tricky Only,
I'll send for you later , just for fun of English. Have a nice weekend.
Love you.

[Beeesneees]

I dusagree that there is only a slight difference between these:
I only wanna be with you.
Only I wanna be with you.

The first means:
I don't want to do anything other than be with you.
The second is:
I am the sole person who wants to be with you.
_________________
Cheers m' dears!

[Mr. Kyaw Min Lwin]

Marvellous!

Would you be so kind to explain more about the differences among following sentences.
1. Only I bought some flowers for Melissa yesterday.
2. I only bought some flowers for Melissa yesterday.
3. I bought only some flowers for Melissa yesterday.
4. I bought some flowers only for Melissa yesterday.
5. I bought some flowers for Melissa only yesterday.
Love you. with regards.

[Beeesneees]

1. You were the only person who brought the flowers.
2. This is the tricky one as it can have two of the possible meanings: Flowers were the only things you bought OR You bought flowers as recently as yesterday. In writing, you would be dependent on context to know the difference,. In speaking, the intonation and emphasis should make it clear. (Depending on whether you emphasise 'flowers' or 'yesterday')
3. Flowers were the only things you bought.
4. Melissa was the only person you bought flowers for.
5. You bought flowers as recently as yesterday.
_________________
Cheers m' dears!

[Alan]

Hi Mr. Kyaw Min Lwin,

You could make life easier for yourself if you noted that the adverb 'only' with its meaning of 'exclusively' refers to the word which it immediately precedes.

Alan
_________________
English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story Present Simple

[Mr. Kyaw Min Lwin]

Dear Beeesneees and Alan,

Thank you very much for you kind explanations on my TRICKY ONLY that make easier for me to use other tricky adverbs . Love you.
with regards.

[Mr. Kyaw Min Lwin]

Dear Mr. Alan.
Thanks for your explanation.
Practice makes perfect?
We, Burmese has a saying which goes THE CHILD WHO CRIES, WINS THE BISCUIT/ SWEET.

with kindest regards ,

[Kati Svaby]

Hello,

Alan's letter to Mr. Kyaw was very surprising for me. He wrote: " You could make life easier for yourself if noted that adverb ONLY with its meaning "exclusively" refers to the word which immediately precedes."

Of course I could make life easier for myself and it is high time that I saw cleary what can be ONLY in a sentence. Can be adjective, adverb,conjunction + there are some idioms with it.

ADJECTIVE
= means no other or others of the same group.
-She is their only daughter.
-We were the only people there.
-His only answer was a grunt.

ADVERB
1.
= in form of ONLY or ONLY IF and it 's a clause, can be FIRST in the sentence. Help: when we begin with only in the second part of the sentence,BE,DO,HAVE etc.come before the subject and the main part of the word.
-Only in Paris DO you find bars like this.
-Only if there conditions are fufilled CAN the application proceed to the next stage.

2.we say about sb/ sth is the best.
-She is the only person for the job.

3.no more important, interesting, serious etc. than this.
- It was only a suggestion.
-Don't blame me , I'm only the messenger!
- He was only teasing you.

4.=no more than; no longer than

-She is only 21 and she runs her business.
-It only took few seconds.

5.= not until
-We only got here yesterday.
-(formal) Only then did she realize the stress he was under.

6.used to say that sb can do more than it is mentioned, although this is probably not enough:
-We CAN only guess what happened.
-He COULD only watch helplessly as the car plunged into the ravine.
-I ONLY HOPE that she never finds out.

7.we say that sth will have a bad effect:
-If you do that, it will only make matters worse.
-Trying to reason with him only enrages him even more.

8. ONLY TO DO STH= used to mention sth immediately afterwords, especially sth that causes surprise, disappointment etc.
-She turned up the driveway, only to find her way blocked.

CONJUNCTION
=expect that; but
-I'd love to come, only I have to work.
-It tastes like a chicken, only stronger.

IDIOMS
1.THE ONLY THING IS...= used before mention a worry or a problem you have with sth.
-I'd love to come - the only thing is I might be late.
2. IN NAME ONLY =officially recognized but not existing in reality
-He is party leader in name only.
3.ONE AND ONLY...= used emphasize that sb. Is famous
-Here he is, there one and only Jack Harrison.
4.NOT ONLY...BUT (ALSO)= both...and
-He only read the book, but also remembered what he had read.
5.ONLY JUST=
a.)=not long ago/before
-We've only just arrived.
b.) almost not
-He only just caught the train.
-I can only afford it, but only just.
6. ONLY TOO =...very
-I was only too pleased to help.
-children cab be difficult as we know only to well.
7.YOU'RE ONLY YOUNG ONCE (saying) = young people should enjoy themselves as much as possible because they will have to work and worry in their lives
8.ONLY HAVE EYES FOR/HAVE EYES ONLY FOR SB. = to be in love with only one particular person.
-He has only ever had eyes for his wife.

Kati S.
_________________
We always deceive ourselves twice about the people we love - first to their advantage, then to their disadvantage.