Re: 'only'

[cbmvax!uunet!pucc.princeton.edu!jimc]

Richard Kennaway <jrk@INFORMATION-SYSTEMS.EAST-ANGLIA.AC.UK> writes:
> "Only" seems to me to be a three-place predicate masquerading as a
> two-place one.  "X is only Y" means "X is Y and, perhaps contrary to
> expectation, is not Z", where Z is left unstated.

It has yet another related meaning: x1 is (abstract) x2, and, perhaps
unexpectedly, it is no more than that on some scale (x3?) relevant to
x2.  The polar opposite in this version is "very".  Example:

        You got only a B on the test?  (I expected an A.)
        I have only $10 (while I need more to buy...)
        You are only a teacher (Speaker character is putting down
                listener character by saying her social class is less
                than that of her new boyfriend)

                -- jimc