I was thinking recently about 2 apparently different uses of the word only. I had found myself writing example 1.
(1) I’ve had a copy of Teach Yourself Welsh for about 50 years. It was only last year that I discovered that pages 97-144 are missing.
I started wondering how that use of only contrasts with another use, as in example 2.
(2) Only last week, I started working through my recently bought copy of Colloquial Welsh.
What is the difference?
It seems to me that only reflects different perspectives in these 2 examples:
- Example 1 says that I have had Teach Yourself Welsh for a long time, but didn’t notice until very recently that 48 pages are missing. The perspective is looking forward a long way from the time when I bought Teach Yourself Welsh.
- Example 2 says that the time when I started working through Colloquial Welsh was very recent. The perspective is looking back a short way from now.
I suspect the differences lies in the fact that only is what some people call a ‘focus-sensitive particle’:
- in example 1, only emphasises that the period in question (from buying Teach Yourself Welsh up to discovering the major flaw in my copy) was unexpectedly long.
- in example 2, only emphasises that the period in question (from today back until the day when I started working through Colloquial Welsh) was unexpectedly short.
Incidentally, although example 1 refers to a more distant end point (last year) than the start point mentioned in example 2 (last week), I don’t think that difference is what causes the difference between those 2 examples. I think the same difference exists in examples 3 and 4.
(3) Life has existed on Earth for over 3 billion years but homo sapiens only invented writing about 5,000 years ago.
(4) Only a few hundred thousand years ago, homo sapiens appeared.
Example 3 says there was a long wait before the invention of writing. Example 4 says homo sapiens arrived only recently.
In example 3, the long period (over 3 billion years) ended 5,000 years ago. In example 4, the short period (a few hundred thousand years) began before the end of the long period in example 3.
For my to-do list
I don’t yet know much about only, and other focus-sensitive particles, such as even, but I intend to find out more about them. When I do find out more, I must use the above examples in testing my understanding.