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How much $ per hour would be enough for you to put the word "only" where it belongs?

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Boojatta Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-23-11 02:27 PM
Original message
How much $ per hour would be enough for you to put the word "only" where it belongs?
I saw an advertisement. You might not believe me, but I have it in writing, and there are eyewitnesses who will back me up. They will testify in court, if necessary.

What caught my attention was this part:

Amigos, only pay for the data you use


Let's take those words and think about them. Amigos pay. Do they do anything else? No, they only pay. They pay and pay and pay. All I do around here is pay for things! That's the idea, right?

Well, I would prefer to pay for some things, but to ensure that I don't pay more than necessary. If there's data that I don't use, then I don't want to pay for it. I expect that I will nevertheless have to pay something. So the first idea that the advertising copywriter might have been trying to get across is this: Amigos, pay ...

... because inevitably we pay something for most things that are worth having. That's not a problem. What should we pay for? For lots and lots, going beyond reasonable bounds? No, we want to know that what we pay for is restricted. We will pay for data that we use, and for no other data.

Revised advertisement:

Amigos, pay for only the data you use


However, that's not what I saw.
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meegbear Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-23-11 02:32 PM
Response to Original message
1. The comma ( , ) ...
is a punctuation mark. It has the same shape as an apostrophe or single closing quotation mark in many typefaces, but it differs from them in being placed on the baseline of the text. Some typefaces render it as a small line, slightly curved or straight, or with the appearance of a small, filled-in number 9.

The comma is used in many contexts and languages, principally for separating things. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word comma comes directly from the Greek komma (κόμμα ), which means something cut off or a short clause.

<snip>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comma

The comma was present in both phrases. Both mean the same thing. QED.
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Sonoman Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-23-11 02:46 PM
Response to Reply #1
5. Problem is, most Americans are comma-clueless.
From what I see, most folks don't know a comma from an apostrophe and have no idea of what to do with either one of them.

Sonoman
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Boojatta Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-23-11 02:48 PM
Response to Reply #1
6. "The comma was present in both phrases."
Phrase #3: In each phrase, a comma is present.

Phrase #4: In each phrase, there is no punctuation.

There is a comma in Phrase #3 and there is a comma in Phrase #4. Therefore, there is a comma in both phrases. Can you conclude that Phrase #3 and Phrase #4 mean the same thing?
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meegbear Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-23-11 03:02 PM
Response to Reply #6
7. Since Phrases #1 and #2 are using the same words, in a different order, saying the same thing ...
Edited on Wed Mar-23-11 03:02 PM by meegbear
and Phrases #3 and #4 are not using the same words, there's no comparison here.
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Boojatta Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-23-11 03:07 PM
Response to Reply #7
8. I didn't intend to make a comparison.
You didn't specify what principle you invoked to arrive at your conclusion. I made a guess and invoked my guess to demonstrate that the guess principle isn't a reliable principle. Would you please formulate the principle that you are relying upon?
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Boojatta Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-23-11 03:22 PM
Response to Reply #1
9. Some bookstores sell used books and new books.
Edited on Wed Mar-23-11 03:24 PM by Boojatta
If a bookstore is in the business of selling used books, then it ordinarily buys those used books before selling them. However, suppose that you own a bookstore and buy lots of new books for yourself, read them, and then have to dispose of them because you have limited space to store books. Suppose that is your only source of used books that you sell through your bookstore. Other bookstores buy and sell used books, but you only sell used books. You don't buy used books.

On the other hand, maybe you sell not only used books, but also new books that you receive directly from the printer. Then it would be misleading to say that you "sell only used books."

Do you see a difference of meaning, depending on whether the word "only" is placed before or after the verb "sell"?
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virgogal Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-23-11 02:38 PM
Response to Original message
2. I don't get what the problem is?
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aquart Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-23-11 02:38 PM
Response to Original message
3. Actually, English is pretty flexible with that stuff.
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John1956PA Donating Member (282 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-23-11 02:44 PM
Response to Original message
4. Some years ago, Marilyn Vos Savant addressed the frequent misplacement of the word "only".
Marilyn started with a simple sentence to the effect: "The dog brought my slippers."

She then inserted the word "only" at each possible point:

"Only the dog brought my slippers." i. e., No one else brought my slippers.
"The only dog brought my slippers." i. e., There was only one dog present, and it brought my slippers.
"The dog only brought my slippers." i. e., The dog did nothing else with my slippers, such as chew on them.
"The dog brought only my slippers." i. e., The dog brought no other items, such as the newspaper.
"The dog brought my only slippers." i. e., I have only one pair of slippers which the dog brought to me.
"The dog brought my slippers only." i. e., This seems the same as the fourth example above, maybe someone can point out a distinction.
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rfranklin Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-23-11 03:38 PM
Response to Reply #4
10. The dog brought only my slippers...
Then he peed on the carpet.

The brought my slippers only. He did nothing else.
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John1956PA Donating Member (282 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-23-11 04:05 PM
Response to Reply #10
11. Insightful. Placement of "only" at the end conveys a thought distinct from the other thoughts.
Thanks for bringing this distinction to light.
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Boojatta Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Mar-23-11 08:46 PM
Response to Reply #11
12. Thank you for participating in this thread.
Had you not done so, my point of view would be a very small minority position in this thread, and I might be motivated to step back and try to discuss something less controversial and more abstract. It would be something that forms part of the unstated background knowledge used in this thread. It would be my attempt find a solid footing within the minds of people who don't understand or who dispute the linguistic claims that I made in this thread.
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Chan790 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-10-11 10:33 AM
Response to Reply #12
13. Actually...
it drives me nutty too, as a writing instructor; grammar, punctuation, word-order, word-choice, and construction matter. So too does their conscious negation.

Something I was told as a undergraduate English/Creative-Writing minor: "You better learn how to use English correctly before you use it incorrectly as a writer. Rules...there are rules and you can and should break them as writers; you'd better know what rules you're breaking (ed: and how) because they influence the interpretation of your writing and the disposition of your reader."
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RebelOne Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Apr-14-11 12:21 PM
Response to Reply #13
14. Yes, I am a retired copy editor.
And now that I am not working, I watch a lot of TV. And the grammar and punctuation in the some of the TV ads drives me up the wall. I have even e-mailed advertisers to inform them of errors.
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