" But
when the comparison is assumed the word elder should be employed; as,
"My father is the elder of my parents."
Only
Perhaps no other word in the language is so often misplaced as the
word only. The only general rule is to place it as near as possible to
the word which it modifies. "He only lent me a dollar" means that he
did not make me a present of the dollar, but expects me to return it.
"He lent me only a dollar" means that the sum lent was neither greater
nor less than one dollar. The former expression is often used when the
latter should be.
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"Only the man walked to the post-office to-day." The woman did not
walk with him.
"The man only walked to the post-office to-day." He did not ride or
drive.
"The man walked only to the post-office to-day." He did not go so far
as the store.
"The man walked to the post-once only to-day." Yesterday he rode and
the day before he drove. Today is the only day that he walked.
George Eliot, in Middlemarch, says: "I only know two gentlemen who
sing at all well," and in another place, "I have only seen her once
before.
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