When should "only" come before a verb phrase?

Question

I’m really struggling to understand when and how to use “only” as an adverb — and how its use is impacted by verb phrases. The following post on English StackExchange doesn’t really clarify it for me: Correct position of "only". I understand that placing “only” in different places modifies the meaning of the sentence, but when should you use the word to modify a verb phrase?

In a Quick and Dirty Tips post, the writer states that the stress can be a deciding factor but that “…it’s still better to put ‘only’ as close to the word or phrase that it modifies…” My confusion arises from the phrase part. For instance:

Gary realized that he was wrong only after he had left.
Gary only realized that he was wrong after he had left. (“Only” before verb phrase)

In other words, Gary thought he was right about something, but realized at a later stage that he was actually wrong.

Which of the two sentences conveys the correct meaning? Can both be correct? English isn’t my first language, and this type of construction is really difficult for me to understand.

(1) is indisputably correct, unambiguous, but sounds rather formal. // (2) is arguably ambiguous or even shows a misplaced limiting modifier, but is what many Anglophones would actually say: it is idiomatic. There is little possibility for ambiguity here, but with 'In the shop, Holly only looked at the books' does this mean she didn't actually buy any books, or that she didn't look at anything else? Either is possible (and the sentence is used with both meanings). — Edwin Ashworth, Mar 27 '20 at 19:40
But this is covered at the duplicate, Correct position of "only" — Edwin Ashworth, Mar 27 '20 at 19:41
You should put only before a verb phrase when either (a) the verb phrase is the focussed constituent of only, or (b) when the verb phrase contains another constituent that is the focus of only. Words with a focus (e.g, only, even, too, also) can go either immediately before their focussed constituent, or before any constituent that contains it. — John Lawler, Mar 27 '20 at 23:05

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Mar 27 '20 at 19:36

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I think sentence 1 conveys the needed meaning which you described: he did something wrong before he left but realised it only at the moment he left or right after it.

The second sentence means the same... but another thing is emphasised! The only thing he did was that he realised that, but he forgot to do something else which was important.

answered Mar 27 '20 at 19:36

Artyom Lugovoy

531

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Unfortunately, it’s not quite as logical as it ought to be – in this case, both mean exactly the same thing and only modifies ‘after he had left’ in both cases, despite being separated from it by the verbal phrase in one version. There is no hint in the second sentence that Gary forgot to do something else. – Janus Bahs Jacquet Mar 27 '20 at 19:40
:( Thanks for telling me! So I'm waiting for someone to confirm it, and then I'll delete my answer. – Artyom Lugovoy Mar 27 '20 at 19:45

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 25 '20 at 00:32

If you want to emphasize that replacing a particular word with another word would not be correct, then you should put "only" immediately before that word. If you say "Gary only realized that he was wrong after he had left." that means "If you think that Gary performed some action other than realization with regard to him being wrong, you are wrong". It implies that he could have, say, doubted, that he was wrong, but instead of doubting that he was wrong, he realized he was wrong.

If you don't want to qualify the action that Gary did, but the time, you should put "only" before "after".

When should "only" come before a verb phrase?

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