0
Fire1 Posted 5 years ago
Grammar

Only how clause

A. We no longer worry about only how to stay alive ; we now worry about working for a living and how to spend our spare time .
B. Older print publication systems had no capability to know what the information was about—only how to format it on the printed page.

In both sentences A and B, does "only" modify "how to stay alive" and "how to format it on the printed page"?

According to the explanation written below from Cambridge dictionary, this explanation seems to be applied to sentences A and B, so I think that "only" modifies "how to stay alive" and "how to format it on the printed page".

If the focus is a whole clause, we can put only in front position:

My arm hurts but only when I try to raise it.

In this example, according to the explanation, since the focus is put on "when I try to raise it", I think "only" modifies "when I try to raise it".

  

Top answer

fire1 A. We no longer worry about only how to stay aliv e ; we now worry about working for a living and how to spend our spare tim e . 'only' is in the wrong place.

  • fire1 A.
  • We no longer worry about only how to stay aliv e ; we now worry about working for a living and how to spend our spare tim e .
  • 'only' is in the wrong place.
  • We no longer worry only about how to stay alive; we now worry (also) about working for a living ...............
  • and (about) how to spend our spare time.
Free · every Monday

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

New words, one handy idiom, and a 2-minute quiz — delivered to your inbox to keep your streak alive.

1 Answers
0
fire1A. We no longer worry about only how to stay alive ; we now worry about working for a living and how to spend our spare time .

'only' is in the wrong place.

We no longer worry
only
about how to stay alive;
we now worry

Related Questions