[Date Prev][Date Next] [Thread Prev][Thread Next] [Date Index] [Thread Index]

Re: [RFR2] templates://webfs/{templates}



Mats Erik Andersson wrote:
> Do you judge the phrasings 
> 
>       "configured to listen to only one of them"
> 
>       "configured to only listen to one of them"
> 
> to be of identical value? Had I begun anew, I would have started
> with the second formulation. They display a slight difference in
> view point, but it is probably tied to the individual native language.

The second version would be a perfectly normal thing for a native
English-speaker to say when trying to express the relevant meaning,
but it has two problems.

First, "to only listen" runs foul of the taboo against "split
infinitives".  There are a lot of people out there who take great
pleasure in spotting these so they can tell you they're
ungrammatical.  They're wrong, but you can't argue with people like
that.

Second, it's possible to mis-parse it with the "only" applying to
"listen" rather than "one" ("to only listen to one of them, and to
do something else as well to the other").  Again, there are people
who will insist this is bad grammar, and this time they have a
point.

If version one felt stilted I'd say we should ignore the pedants,
but instead it sounds natural enough to be the safer choice.
-- 
JBR	with qualifications in linguistics, experience as a Debian
	sysadmin, and probably no clue about this particular package


Reply to: