only
Writers often inadvertently create confusion by placing “only”
incorrectly in a sentence. It should go immediately before the word or
phrase it modifies. “I lost my only shirt” means that I had but one to
begin with. “I lost only my shirt” means I didn’t lose anything else.
“Only I lost my shirt” means that I was the only person in my group to
lose a shirt. Strictly speaking, “I only lost my shirt” should mean I
didn’t destroy it or have it stolen—I just lost it, but in common speech
this is usually understood as being identical with “I lost only my
shirt.” Scrutinize your uses of “only” to make sure you are not creating
unwanted ambiguities.
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NBC made a series of videos based on some of the entries in Common Errors in English Usage, including this one:
You can see the full list of videos and watch them here.
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There were only 122 episodes of the podcast; you may still listen to all of them here.
