A Single Word Can Change Everything

I stumbled upon an interesting bit of wordplay this morning, courtesy of a writer-directed Facebook post. Here it is:

She told him that she loved him.

The post went on to say that by inserting the word ‘only’ in various places, the meaning of the sentence changes remarkably. Try these on for size:

Only she told him that she loved him.

She only told him that she loved him.

She told only him that she loved him.

She told him only that she loved him.

She told him that only she loved him.

She told him that she only loved him.

She told him that she loved only him.

She told him that she loved him only.

 

About John Swinburn

"Love not what you are but what you may become."― Miguel de Cervantes
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