My "Favorite" Grammatical Pet Peeve

In a recent class, a student asked me what my “favorite” grammar pet peeve is. The answer is making a sentence ambiguous by placing the word “only” in the wrong location. Grammar Girl illustrates using an example employed by James Jackson Kilpatrick:

1. Only John hit Peter in the nose.
2. John hit only Peter in the nose.
3. John hit Peter only in the nose.
4. John only hit Peter in the nose.

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Put the Adverb “Only” as Close as Possible to What It Modifies

His point was that you need to put the adverb “only” as close as possible to the word it modifies. The sentence “Only John hit Peter in the nose” means that John hit Peter in the nose, and no one else did. The sentence “John hit only Peter in the nose” means that John hit Peter in the nose, and didn’t do that to anybody else. The sentence “John hit Peter only in the nose” means that John hit Peter in the nose, not in or on any other part of his body.

Another example: The old song “I only have eyes for you” should be “I have eyes only for you,” though the rewording spoils the rhythm.

You can read more here.

(ljs)