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eagleflych
Joined: 24 Oct 2007 Posts: 14
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Posted: Thu Jun 03, 2010 4:30 pm Post subject: a question about "only" |
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Thank you for your replies in advance.
My question is:
Suppose the circumstances:
Some people thought it needed more than three people to push over a wall, but then three people pushed over the wall.
I think the fact proves that it is easy to push over the wall. It doesn't need more than three people.
Can I say "only three people pushed over the wall" to express the meaning above?
I feel the sentence is wrong, because the sentence implies "no other people participated the action of the pushing over the wall".
But what is the right expression?
Thanks a lot. |
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Lorikeet

Joined: 08 Oct 2005 Posts: 1877 Location: San Francisco
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Posted: Fri Jun 04, 2010 12:19 am Post subject: |
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How about, "It only took three people to push over the wall." |
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laurabates
Joined: 10 Jun 2010 Posts: 6 Location: London UK
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Posted: Tue Jun 29, 2010 11:26 am Post subject: Help with your English |
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Hi Eagleflych,
Lorikeet is right, the correct sentence would be 'It only took three people to push over the wall'. You were right to worry that 'only three people pushed over the wall' would sound like there were only three- you need to be specific that the 'only' is related to how many were needed so it ONLY TOOK three people.... is correct
Hope this helps! For other English writing tips check out this really helpful blog at a great website I found for essay help - they can help you with your essays and provide sample essays but also their blog is really useful for answering common English language and grammar questions such as 'should I use I or me?' and 'is 'alright' all right?'
Really hope this helps with your english
good luck!
Laura |
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