Position of Adverbs of comment and focus
Position of Adverbs of comment
Most adverbs of comment can occur at the front, middle or end of a sentence.
Personally, I’d be happy if they get married.
He wanted to sell me some quilts that had obviously some quality issues.
He has done his masters from a top-notch university, apparently.
Position of Adverbs of focus
‘even’ and ‘only’ usually go in mid position. But there may be exceptions.
Generally, the words ‘only’ and ‘even’ should be placed immediately before the word (noun/pronoun) they modify.
My brother only can win this competition. (incorrect)
Only my brother can win this competition. (correct – it means my brother and nobody else)
A child even can solve this problem. (incorrect)
Even a child can solve this problem. (correct)
When we use ‘alone’ to mean ‘only’, it comes after a noun/pronoun:
You won’t be able to ride up the corporate ladder by hard work alone. (hard work – noun, it is the object of the preposition ‘by’)
In spoken English, however the words ‘only’ and ‘even’ are usually put before the verb. Then to convey the required meaning we stress the word which ‘only’ or ‘even’ modify.
I have only slept three hours. (stress on ‘three hours’)
He can even speak Sanskrit. (stress on ‘Sanskrit’)
Position of Only
We generally keep an adverb adjacent to the word it modifies. If we change the position of an adverb, it may even change the meaning of the sentence.
Let us see some examples involving the adverb ‘only’. Students often make errors in the proper positioning of this adverb.
Only he heard my story. (My story was heard by just one person)
He only heard my story. (He did not do anything else)
He heard only my story. (He did not hear the story of any other person)
He heard my only story. (I had just one story)
He heard my story only. (Not my poems, essay etc.)