Yes, such placement of "only" is well-accepted in modern English usage (when the meaning is clear), but technically, "only" should be placed before the thing it is modifying. See Bryan Garner's Modern English Usage. For example, you can get away with a sentence like "I only like ice cream," because it is clear that you mean that the only thing you like is ice cream, and not that your only relationship to ice cream is that you like it. It gets iffier with a sentence like, "I only work on Tuesday." That could very well be understood as meaning that the only thing I do on Tuesday is work; I don't play, eat, drink, etc. Therefore, if the intent was that the only day of the week you work on is Tuesday, clear writing would require you to write "I work only on Tuesday." That said, I believe that LSAC is very particular to place "only" where before what it is modifying.
"I only work on Tuesdays" means "I work only on Tuesdays."
T = Tuesday W = Go to work
W --> T
It means that Tuesdays are the only days I work. So If I'm working, it must be Tuesday. But do you know if I work on every Tuesday? No, because maybe I'm lazy and work only ten days a year.
I believe the issue with "I only work on Tuesdays" is the placement of "only." Some argue that "only" should be placed immediately before the word or phrase it modifies.
"I only gave him a dollar" should be "I gave him only a dollar."
"I only ate a donut for dinner last night" should be "I ate only a donut for dinner last night."
But there are people who think there is no danger of misreading "I only gave him a dollar" and that "only" can be placed between the subject and the verb. I personally think "I only gave him a dollar" is natural, but there are people who think this is ungrammatical.
I understand that the placement of "only" confuses you when you mechanically apply the translation.
As @jhaldy10325 posted, I also had similar a question regarding "only" and asked on the Discussion Forum:
J.Y. says "It gets into the weeds of how ambiguous English is." But both J.Y. and @jhaldy10325 confirmed that this kind of ambiguous arguments rarely appears on the actual LSAT. So I believe LSAC believes in the proper placement of "only" (=immediately before the word or phrase it modifies)
Another example from the Trainer. "Sarah only dates funny boys."
If the intended meaning is that the only people Sarah dates are funny boys then that wording is just point blank wrong. The LSAT would not write that type of sentence, but course authors might come up with it as a self-made drill. What that statement, as written, actually means is that the only thing that sarah does is date funny boys. She doesn't do any other activity besides date funny boys.
I think the reason this is confusing is that it's grammatically incorrect if the intended meaning is "If Work --> Then Tuesday". The LSAT, as far as I know, has NEVER expressed that idea in this fashion. It's not truly ambiguous -- the actual meaning of the statement as written is "If Tuesday -> Only Work" -- the person does nothing else besides work on Tuesday. The sole thing the person does on Tuesday is work. "On Tuesday I only work". "On Tuesday I solely work". That's what the statement means.
You cannot fairly read "I only work on Tuesday" as "If Work -> then Tuesday" if we follow the rules of grammar. I know in real life we interpret that type of statement as "If work -> then Tuesday", but that's because we're imprecise. This error has come up in some self-made drills, too. But I have not seen this error on the LSAT. (let me know if you have an example)
What we REALLY mean is "I work only on Tuesday" or "I work only if it's Tuesday" or "The only day I work is Tuesday". And it's just wrong to express that idea as "I only work on Tuesday."
Here it is clear and the syntax is just a little wonky. We do have to be more concerned with the meaning of the statement. What does it mean to say that "I only work on Tuesday?" Conditionally, it could only mean:
If it's Tuesday, I must work
or
If I'm working, it must be Tuesday
So we can apply the indicators if we can dig through the syntax, but which option is really implied by the statement? For me here, intuition is much easier than mechanics. I don't have to work every Tuesday. If i'm working though, it's definitely Tuesday, right? So, W --> T.
Here's a great thread on ambiguity where JY pitches in. It's a really great read on the topic:
We can mechanically translate every sentence using the logical indicators (when there is one), we just can't do so purely based on the its "positions". Instead, try to see what the sentence is actually saying. In this case, the emphasis is on Tuesday, in other words, Tuesday is the necessary condition even though "position" of only is right before W. It does take a while to get used to it in the beginning but as your logic foundation improves, it wouldn't be much of an issue for you I'm sure. This is one of the somewhat relatively rare instances where the flexibility of English as a natural language steps in.
So what i am getting from all this is that you cannot mechanically translate every sentence using the indicators. From @jhaldy10325 explanation i see that since the sentence could be read "i work only on tuesday" vs. "I only work on tuesdays" we see that only is really modifying the tuesday not work? Well this complicates things.
@6400 Thanks for the links! I was just about to do the same as I had the exact same question back in the day.
The short answer is W ---> T. If you work, then has to be on Tuesday. T doesn't necessarily imply W. It could be a Tuesday and your not working. But if you do, gotta be on T.
Can't get right (all other 7sagers in the above links as well) gave an excellent response in the post, I encourage you to check it out.
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14 comments
Yes, such placement of "only" is well-accepted in modern English usage (when the meaning is clear), but technically, "only" should be placed before the thing it is modifying. See Bryan Garner's Modern English Usage. For example, you can get away with a sentence like "I only like ice cream," because it is clear that you mean that the only thing you like is ice cream, and not that your only relationship to ice cream is that you like it. It gets iffier with a sentence like, "I only work on Tuesday." That could very well be understood as meaning that the only thing I do on Tuesday is work; I don't play, eat, drink, etc. Therefore, if the intent was that the only day of the week you work on is Tuesday, clear writing would require you to write "I work only on Tuesday." That said, I believe that LSAC is very particular to place "only" where before what it is modifying.
This question was also asked on this page:
https://classic.7sage.com/lesson/4-translation-groups-summary/#comment-55477
"I only work on Tuesdays" means "I work only on Tuesdays."
T = Tuesday W = Go to work
W --> T
It means that Tuesdays are the only days I work. So If I'm working, it must be Tuesday. But do you know if I work on every Tuesday? No, because maybe I'm lazy and work only ten days a year.
I believe the issue with "I only work on Tuesdays" is the placement of "only." Some argue that "only" should be placed immediately before the word or phrase it modifies.
"I only gave him a dollar" should be "I gave him only a dollar."
"I only ate a donut for dinner last night" should be "I ate only a donut for dinner last night."
But there are people who think there is no danger of misreading "I only gave him a dollar" and that "only" can be placed between the subject and the verb. I personally think "I only gave him a dollar" is natural, but there are people who think this is ungrammatical.
I understand that the placement of "only" confuses you when you mechanically apply the translation.
As @jhaldy10325 posted, I also had similar a question regarding "only" and asked on the Discussion Forum:
https://classic.7sage.com/discussion/#/discussion/11375/only-if
Here is J.Y.'s response:
https://classic.7sage.com/discussion/#/discussion/comment/73502
J.Y. says "It gets into the weeds of how ambiguous English is." But both J.Y. and @jhaldy10325 confirmed that this kind of ambiguous arguments rarely appears on the actual LSAT. So I believe LSAC believes in the proper placement of "only" (=immediately before the word or phrase it modifies)
Another example from the Trainer. "Sarah only dates funny boys."
If the intended meaning is that the only people Sarah dates are funny boys then that wording is just point blank wrong. The LSAT would not write that type of sentence, but course authors might come up with it as a self-made drill. What that statement, as written, actually means is that the only thing that sarah does is date funny boys. She doesn't do any other activity besides date funny boys.
I think the reason this is confusing is that it's grammatically incorrect if the intended meaning is "If Work --> Then Tuesday". The LSAT, as far as I know, has NEVER expressed that idea in this fashion. It's not truly ambiguous -- the actual meaning of the statement as written is "If Tuesday -> Only Work" -- the person does nothing else besides work on Tuesday. The sole thing the person does on Tuesday is work. "On Tuesday I only work". "On Tuesday I solely work". That's what the statement means.
You cannot fairly read "I only work on Tuesday" as "If Work -> then Tuesday" if we follow the rules of grammar. I know in real life we interpret that type of statement as "If work -> then Tuesday", but that's because we're imprecise. This error has come up in some self-made drills, too. But I have not seen this error on the LSAT. (let me know if you have an example)
What we REALLY mean is "I work only on Tuesday" or "I work only if it's Tuesday" or "The only day I work is Tuesday". And it's just wrong to express that idea as "I only work on Tuesday."
Here it is clear and the syntax is just a little wonky. We do have to be more concerned with the meaning of the statement. What does it mean to say that "I only work on Tuesday?" Conditionally, it could only mean:
If it's Tuesday, I must work
or
If I'm working, it must be Tuesday
So we can apply the indicators if we can dig through the syntax, but which option is really implied by the statement? For me here, intuition is much easier than mechanics. I don't have to work every Tuesday. If i'm working though, it's definitely Tuesday, right? So, W --> T.
Here's a great thread on ambiguity where JY pitches in. It's a really great read on the topic:
https://classic.7sage.com/discussion/#/discussion/comment/73505
We can mechanically translate every sentence using the logical indicators (when there is one), we just can't do so purely based on the its "positions". Instead, try to see what the sentence is actually saying. In this case, the emphasis is on Tuesday, in other words, Tuesday is the necessary condition even though "position" of only is right before W. It does take a while to get used to it in the beginning but as your logic foundation improves, it wouldn't be much of an issue for you I'm sure. This is one of the somewhat relatively rare instances where the flexibility of English as a natural language steps in.
So what i am getting from all this is that you cannot mechanically translate every sentence using the indicators. From @jhaldy10325 explanation i see that since the sentence could be read "i work only on tuesday" vs. "I only work on tuesdays" we see that only is really modifying the tuesday not work? Well this complicates things.
@jhaldy10325 said:
@uhinberg359 man that's such a safe answer but I have to say I totally agree! lol
I spent a lot of time memorizing the indicators and now they are stuck in my head, lol
@uhinberg359 man that's such a safe answer but I have to say I totally agree! lol
Group 2 for sure!
@6400 Thanks for the links! I was just about to do the same as I had the exact same question back in the day.
The short answer is W ---> T. If you work, then has to be on Tuesday. T doesn't necessarily imply W. It could be a Tuesday and your not working. But if you do, gotta be on T.
Can't get right (all other 7sagers in the above links as well) gave an excellent response in the post, I encourage you to check it out.
Yeah thanks. I finished the CC months ago and was just brushing up on logic and this turned me on my head
If you are coming from the LSAT trainer,
https://classic.7sage.com/discussion/#/discussion/9223
https://classic.7sage.com/discussion/#/discussion/comment/38821
https://classic.7sage.com/discussion/#/discussion/comment/66022
edit: see below