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PAULO and los Indios
appearing live on stage Saturdays at 9 PM The Secrets of
as unfolded by Paulo and los Indios
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Los Indios and Paulo know that only can function as an adverb, a conjunction, an adjective, and a preposition. The important rule in English is that only should always precede the word that it modifies in a phrase. Although this is an important rule in standard English grammar, it is routinely ignored or broken in general English usage, even by educated people!
Only Used Correctly Paulo Tique immigrated from Peru to San Francisco only two years ago, but today he speaks English very well. He listens to hip-hop music and salsa, and plays Peruvian folk music with an Andean music group known as los Indios. The group performs only on Saturday nights because the musicians work as computer programmers during the week. Paulo loves to play the music of his native land, and has only one problem: if only he could practice more! At the moment, the flute is his only instrument, but he would also like to study and play the harp and the drums. You can listen to Paulo and los Indios on Saturday nights, only don't expect a seat in the cafe unless you arrive well before their performance begins at nine o'clock. Paulo has missed only one performance in two years!
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The rule: Only must precede the phrase it modifies.|
Only Used Incorrectly Paulo Tique only immigrated from Peru to San Francisco two years ago, but today he speaks English very well. He listens to hip-hop music and salsa and plays Peruvian folk music with an Andean music group known as los Indios. The group only performs on weekends because they work as computer programmers during the week. Paulo loves to play the music of his native land, and only has one problem. If he could only practice more! At the moment, only the flute is his instrument, but he would also like to study and play the harp and the drums. You can listen to Paulo and los Indios on Saturday nights, only don't expect a seat in the cafe unless you arrive well before their performance begins at nine o'clock. Paulo has only missed one performance in two years! Only Used as adverb, conjunction, preposition, adjective |
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| Adverb |
Paulo only plays instruments; he doesn't sing. |
| Conjunction |
You can listen to Paulo and los Indios on Saturday nights, only don't expect a seat in the cafe unless you arrive well before the performance begins at nine o'clock. |
| Preposition |
Paulo immigrated from Peru only two years ago. |
| Adjective |
Among the members of the ensemble, only Paulo can play the flute. The flute is the only instrument that Paulo can play. |