Position Of Only And Even

The focusing adverbs only and even refer to particular parts of a sentence, so they should go immediately before the word modified by them.

Study the examples given below and note how the meaning changes with a change in the position of only and even.

• Only Shyam can read my emails. (Shyam can read my emails; others cannot.)
• Shyam can only read my emails. (Shyam cannot do anything else. He can only read my emails.)
• Shyam can read only my emails. (Shyam cannot read anything else. The only things he can read are my emails.)

• Only Rupa could solve the puzzle. (Nobody else could solve the puzzle.)
• Rupa could solve only the puzzle. (Rupa could not do anything else, but she could solve the puzzle.)

• Only Rahul can stay in my home. (Nobody else can stay in my home.)
• Rahul can only stay in my home. (He must do anything else.)
• Rahul can stay only in my home. (Rahul must not stay anywhere else.)

• Even Rohan could not solve the problem. (Rohan, let alone anybody else, could solve the problem.)
• Rohan could not even solve the problem. (Rohan could not do other things, let alone solve the problem.)