English word order I don't know if the order of words in a sentence is as critical in other languages. Can you understand the distinct meaning of each of these? Try to translate them into your nativ

Sven

English word order

I don't know if the order of words in a sentence is as critical in other languages. Can you understand the distinct meaning of each of these? Try to translate them into your native language...

Only the cat sat on the mat

The only cat sat on the mat

The cat only sat on the mat

The cat sat only on the mat

The cat sat on only the mat

The cat sat on the only mat

The cat sat on the mat only

Jun 5, 2020 7:36 PM

Comments · 7

July 21, 2020

Bit off topic but it does relate. Usually we would stress the word 'only' to emphasise the meaning for each sentence besides the grammatical meaning. This creates different meaning without changing word order. For example, 'I didn't say you stole my money' is a straightforward sentence but stressing a different word each time you say the sentence changes the meaning. Just something interesting I thought I'd add.

July 20, 2020

فقط القطة جلست على السجادة

القطة الوحيدة جلست على السجادة

القطة فقط جلست على السجادة

القطة جلست على السجادة الوحيدة

القطة جلست على السجادة فقط

A few thoughts:

<ul><li>The word “only” has two different meanings here, which are conveyed using two different words in Arabic.</li><li>Sentences 3, 4, and 5 have very similar meanings, which are not distinguished in Arabic.</li><li>Nothing can come between a preposition and the object of the preposition in Arabic, which makes sentence 5 impossible.</li></ul>

June 5, 2020