Sometimes “Only” Should Come First

I occasionally point out times when people write “only” too early in a sentence. Such as here and here. 

The rule is that in English (not necessarily other languages) adjectives, such as “only,” should come directly before the word they modify, particularly when you have more than one word that it could modify.

Sometimes the correct word is the first one! For example:

https://www.gocomics.com/pearlsbeforeswine/2018/09/23

The donkey’s three-times-repeated reply is correct! He only wants.

The Incongruity of Spoken and Written Pronunciation

You can tell people who read a lot because of the occasional mispronunciation they make because they know a word, but never heard it pronounced. I used to mispronounce “metropolitan” for that reason.

Anyway, this Adam at Home comic almost makes that point:

https://www.gocomics.com/adamathome/2018/09/19

My advice? Show someone the word and ask them how to pronounce it. If they turn out to be wrong, at least you’ll have someone to blame.

A Redundancy so Common You Don’t Notice It

Even I do this! Well, sometimes. In spoken language. I don’t recommend it in expository writing, though. 

It’s in the last panel. Do you see it?

https://www.gocomics.com/adamathome/2018/09/17

Yup; “tiny little.” You need only one of those words.

Another Use for Commas

We use commas to separate items in a list, to identify an aside remark,  and between certain words, such as city and state. Here’s another use.

Sometimes you need a pause, especially when you represent spoken English, even when you have no grammatical requirement to do so. In fact, you can use this physical pause function even when it would otherwise be incorrect to use a comma:

http://maximumble.thebookofbiff.com/2018/09/10/1798-what-now/

In fact, the cartoonist added a line break to emphasize the pause! I even used this technique on a post I shared a couple months ago.

Ordinarily you are incorrect to separate a subject and its verb with a single comma, so when you use this technique, be sure you know what you’re doing.

A Quick Correct “Fewer”

I was sitting at a restaurant this morning and showed this comic to my waiter (Hi, Rich!) and he laughed. I saw a quick writing lesson, though; one I’ve mentioned before: when to use less and when to use fewer. Use “fewer” when you’re counting.

https://comicskingdom.com/rhymes-with-orange/2018-11-18

If they had used “stuff” instead of “things,” “less” would have been appropriate.

PS—yes, she should have said “there are” instead of “there’s.”

Sad, but Correct Grammar

This is from a news story about a traffic accident.

It was driven by 44-year-old Catina Isaacs, who state police said died in the crash.

https://www.delawareonline.com/story/news/traffic/2018/09/13/off-duty-dover-officer-sparked-fatal-five-car-crash-dover/1296270002/

If you read this blog with any regularity, you might expect me to say that “who” should be “whom,” but the sentence is correct!

Look for the verb. We have two of them, “said” and “died.” Now look for the subjects. “Police said” is obvious. Now what’s the subject of “died”? It’s “who died”! Not “whom died.” So the nominative form of the personal pronoun is correct.

My condolences to the family.

A Mistake Similar to a Bad “Only”

The problem with “only” is that we tend to put the word too early in the sentence. I’ve mentioned this several times, most recently two posts ago. (Search for “only” in the search box in the upper right corner for more.)

The rule in English is to put adjectives directly in front of the word they modify, and usually we don’t have trouble with this, except in the case of “only” and a few other equivalent adjectives. Here’s an example:

Hurricane Helene is taking a stab at Category 3 strength in the remote Eastern Atlantic, where at least its prowess is harmless.

https://www.wunderground.com/cat6/Week-Landfall-Threats-Florence-Mangkhut-Olivia-Isaac-and-More

I don’t think the writer intends to modify “prowess.” I think the intent is to modify “harmless.”

Hurricane Helene is taking a stab at Category 3 strength in the remote Eastern Atlantic, where its prowess is at least harmless.

The writer could even make “at least” into an aside by using commas:

Hurricane Helene is taking a stab at Category 3 strength in the remote Eastern Atlantic, where, at least, its prowess is harmless.

Solution to the “Like or As” Problem

I never thought about considering the simile as a solution to deciding whether to use “like” or “as” in a sentence until I saw this remarkably content-free comic:

https://www.gocomics.com/daddyshome/2018/09/10

A simile is a figure of speech that compares two things (think noun) by saying one is like the other. Its companion figure of speech is metaphor, which compares two things by saying one is the other. 

Simile: A donkey is like a horse
Metaphor: You, sir, are a donkey

I never heard of anyone in English class having a problem getting these right. 

Deciding whether to use “like” or “as” is a different matter. And here’s the solution:

Are you comparing two things? It’s a simile—use “like.” The donkey is like a clown.
Is it about verbs or adjectives? Use “as.” The donkey is as funny as a clown (is.) He hit his head as he bent over. He’s sick as a dog (is).

(The “is” is implied; I put it in so you could see it.)

Why You Need to be Careful with “Only”

English puts adjectives directly before the words they modify. Say you have a red car. You don’t say, “Red Tom can wash my car.” You don’t put the word “red” anywhere except in front of “car.”

The label on the bottle is a good illustration of the effect of adjective location:

https://www.gocomics.com/thebuckets/2018/09/05

We tend to play fast and loose with this rule when the adjective is “only.”

Beware! Don’t write “It’s only going to rain half the day” when what you mean is that it’s going to rain only half the day. Putting “only” first is okay in casual conversation, but be more precise when you write.

Here’s another example, with a better solution than putting “only” where it belongs:

But without a way to accurately gauge how many people are actually on the grounds — attendance is only counted at the end of the night — and with nowhere to send people if they had to be turned away, Hammer says the 322-acre fairgrounds will just have to make room for more.

https://www.mprnews.org/story/2018/09/05/minnesota-state-fair-getting-bigger-after-record-breaking-year

You might correctly put “only” after “counted,” but the best solution in this case it to leave “only” out altogether. 

An “old” Mistake

We don’t use “whence” and “whither” much any more. But when you do, be sure to get the words right!

Whence means from which, from where, or from when, depending on the context.

Whither is similar, but the implied preposition is “to.”

I enjoy Michael Shermer’s column in Scientific American (in this case, the July 2018 issue, page 73). His material is interesting and thought-provoking. But hah! I caught him in a solecism! Here’s the quote:

That is the compatibilist position from whence volition and culpability emerge. 

“Whence” already means “from where,” So he doesn’t need the “from.” I’d say that considering the rest of the vocabulary in that sentence, maybe he’s being careless; “whence” without the “from” would certainly fit.