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Misplaced "only"

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Misplaced "only"

by krishna239455 » Tue May 15, 2012 8:56 am
Below problem is from the well known trusted source:

Although some parents believe that the local all-girls school should begin to admit boys, others claim that girls would participate actively in class only if they had all-girls classes.

The correct answer as per the source is:

that girls will only participate actively in an all-girls class.

I understood the correctness of the sentence in all aspects except the position of only in the sentence. It distorts the meaning of the sentence. with its position in the sentence it means that girls will only participate and will do nothing other than participation.

Misplace "only" makes the sentence incorrect.

Please correct me if I am wrong.
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by Bill@VeritasPrep » Tue May 15, 2012 9:15 am
"Only" is something that can have ambiguous meaning depending on where it is placed. Here's an example I used in another thread:

Use the back door only after the store is closed.
(The back door should only be used after the store is closed; if the store is open, don't use the back door)

or

Use the back door only after the store is closed.
(The back door is the only one that can be used if the store is not open. This does not mean you can't use it when the store is open.)

If we move it to the beginning, the meaning becomes clear:

Only use the back door after the store is closed.
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by krishna239455 » Tue May 15, 2012 9:25 am
Bill

Understood the explaination given by you.

But tell me whether the sentence is incorrect beacuse of miplaced "only" as it distorts the meaning of sentence?
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by confuse mind » Tue May 15, 2012 9:33 am
krishna239455 wrote:Bill

Understood the explaination given by you.

But tell me whether the sentence is incorrect beacuse of miplaced "only" as it distorts the meaning of sentence?

I feel the "correct answer" posted by you has a misplaced "only" error.
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by confuse mind » Tue May 15, 2012 9:35 am
krishna239455 wrote:Below problem is from the well known trusted source:

Although some parents believe that the local all-girls school should begin to admit boys, others claim that girls would participate actively in class only if they had all-girls classes.

The correct answer as per the source is:

that girls will only participate actively in an all-girls class.

I understood the correctness of the sentence in all aspects except the position of only in the sentence. It distorts the meaning of the sentence. with its position in the sentence it means that girls will only participate and will do nothing other than participation.

Misplace "only" makes the sentence incorrect.

Please correct me if I am wrong.


The correct one shoul be - that girls will participate actively *only* in an all-girls class.
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by vikram4689 » Wed May 16, 2012 8:56 am
confuse mind wrote:
krishna239455 wrote:Below problem is from the well known trusted source:

Although some parents believe that the local all-girls school should begin to admit boys, others claim that girls would participate actively in class only if they had all-girls classes.

The correct answer as per the source is:

that girls will only participate actively in an all-girls class.

I understood the correctness of the sentence in all aspects except the position of only in the sentence. It distorts the meaning of the sentence. with its position in the sentence it means that girls will only participate and will do nothing other than participation.

Misplace "only" makes the sentence incorrect.

Please correct me if I am wrong.


The correct one shoul be - that girls will participate actively *only* in an all-girls class.
You are not using the full construction "ONLY IF". ORIGINAL sentence is correct. ONLY IF is a conditional and uses if-then construction in past tense.
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