A modifier describes another word. Prepositional phrases and participial phrases are modifiers too, and they attach to the nearest word they could describe. Put a modifier in the wrong place and it describes the wrong thing.
Limiting words such as only, just, almost and even go right before the word they limit, and moving them changes the meaning: “Only Sam ate the pie” (nobody else did). “Sam ate only the pie” (he ate nothing else).
Key idea
Put a modifier next to the word it describes. Put only, just and almost right before the word they limit.
Why it works
Readers attach a modifier to the closest word it could describe. They can’t ask you what you meant, so the sentence has to say it.
Worked example: Move the phrase
Dad bought a hat for my mom with a feather.
- The feather belongs to the hat, not to Mom.
- Move with a feather next to hat.
Answer: Dad bought a hat with a feather for my mom.
Worked example: Only
Which sentence says that Lena, and nobody else, passed? “Lena only passed the test.” / “Only Lena passed the test.”
- Only limits the word right after it.
- To limit Lena, put only before Lena.
Answer: “Only Lena passed the test.”
Common mistake
Leaving a phrase where it lands on the wrong noun: “She gave cake to kids on paper plates.” Read the sentence once looking only at the phrase: what does it sit next to? Move it beside the word it really describes. In conversation, people often put only before the verb (“I only have five dollars”); in careful writing, put it before the word it limits: “I have only five dollars.”