Grammar girl here, Monday is March 4th National Grammar Day. Of course, every day is grammar

day as far as I'm concerned, but it's nice to have a nationally recognized day when

grammar enthusiasts can be as grammar geeky as they want. For my international listeners,

you have my permission to consider today International Grammar Day and share interesting

facts about the grammars of any language you know. In recognition of such a grammar-ish

occasion, today's topic is one that the late journalist and grammarian James Kilpatrick

covered in an annual column, the placement of the word ONLY. For years, Kilpatrick would

devote a column in January to the placement of the adverb ONLY, illustrating his point

with a sentence like, John Hippeter in the nose. He would draw his reader's attention

to the differences in meaning between these four versions of the sentence. One, ONLY

JOHN Hippeter in the nose. Two, John Hipp only Peter in the nose. Three, John Hippeter

ONLY in the nose. And four, John ONLY Hippeter in the nose. His point was that you need

to put the adverb ONLY as close as possible to the word it modifies. The sentence ONLY

John Hippeter in the nose means that John Hippeter in the nose and no one else did. The

sentence John Hipp only Peter in the nose means that John Hippeter in the nose and didn't

do that to anybody else. The sentence John Hippeter ONLY in the nose means that John Hippeter

in the nose, not in or on any other part of his body. And that brings us to the last

sentence. John ONLY Hippeter in the nose. In this case, the advice about putting ONLY

as close as possible to the word it modifies might not be enough to make your meaning clear.

John ONLY Hippeter in the nose can have at least two meanings. It could mean that John

Hippeter in the nose and didn't do anything else. He didn't trip him, call him names, or

put a kick me sign on his back. On the other hand, if I say John ONLY Hippeter in the

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