Watch the position of modifiers

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Be aware of the fact that the position of modifiers such as only, just, already, even, also, nearly, almost, merely, or always may determine the emphasis or even the meaning of a sentence.

 1  Place the modifier immediately before the word or phrase that you want to modify.

 2  Exception: Only place the modifier between to and the rest of an infinitive if there’s no other possibility.

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Examples    1 

Yes:

We only work during office hours.

(means: During office hours, we don’t do anything else but work.)

Yes:

We work only during office hours.

(means: We don’t work outside of office hours.)

Yes:

Only we work during office hours.

(means: We’re the only ones who work during office hours.)

No:

We almost worked seven years on the new product.

(Implies: We almost worked, but mostly we just had a good time.)

Yes:

We worked almost seven years on the new product.

No:

In the web shop, the list only shows the most popular items.

(Implies: The list shows the items, but you can’t order them here.)

Yes:

In the web shop, the list shows only the most popular items.

Examples    2 

No:

This is going to substantially decrease fuel consumption.

(Here, substantially splits to decrease.)

Yes:

This is going to decrease fuel consumption substantially.

No:

This is going to double fuel consumption nearly.

(Here, it’s not possible to place nearly after the noun.)

Yes:

This is going to nearly double fuel consumption.


Be specific