Sometimes you need to know only one word to find a situation hilarious. In this case, it is universally understood (and strategically placed, I should add) “Stop”. When your students understand a joke in a foreign language, even as simple as this one, they are empowered by this sensation: the English language is no longer just a theoretical construct but rather a practical tool for communication and enjoyment. Do not forget to have fun in the new language to nurture this feeling of joyful discovery!
Here is another one for you: have fun!
Consider this sentence and count all possible interpretations of this statement if we add “only” in different strategic positions. This is an excellent example for instructors to use to demonstrate the importance of adverb placement to their students. Let’s count all the possibilities here. I will start with a few, but not all of the possibilities. Please contribute other possible scenarios in the comments.
1. Only she told him that she loved him. Meaning: she was the only person to tell him that, but there could be other people who loved him.
2. She told him that she loved only him. Meaning: she told him that she loved only him and nobody else.
3. She told him only that she loved him. Meaning: that was the only thing she told him, and nothing else.
4. She told him that only she loved him. Meaning: She told him that she was the only person who loved him (nobody else did).
So, how many other possibilities do you see here?
If you guessed that the error is confusing your and you’re, you guessed it right. The pervasiveness of this error is just mind bogging. This error is common among both college graduates and people who never got their high school diploma. Why do people make this error? I think the reason is laziness and discounting the difference between the two as something insignificant. The reasoning goes something like this: they sound the same, and the context will help the receiver of the message to figure out which one I mean, so why should I bother to spell them correctly? A close second is the “there, they’re, and their” confusion.
The ironic part is that non-native speakers learn to differentiate and use these words correctly relatively quickly. This type of error is rare beyond the beginning level of English acquisition.
I don’t know about you, but when I see a native speaker making errors as basic as this, I can’t help but wonder whether this person is also sloppy about other things in life…