adverb trouble

[anagahan]

i got stuck with something ive been teaching this past week....adverbs

my question is about 'only'..what kind of adverb is it?
my doubt is between 'adverb of degree' and 'sentence adverb'...but i need the right answer, and also why it falls under the certain category...

if anyone can help, thanks in advance

[Teia]

Originally Posted by anagahan

i got stuck with something ive been teaching this past week....adverbs

my question is about 'only'..what kind of adverb is it?
my doubt is between 'adverb of degree' and 'sentence adverb'...but i need the right answer, and also why it falls under the certain category...

if anyone can help, thanks in advance

Only is a restrictive adverb. These adverbs - only, just - usually modify the following word or the closest word to them.

While searching on google, I`ve found out that only is a focusing adverb.
These are used to allow the speaker to focus on a particular element in a clause: even, only, just, especially, particularly, etc.
The focusing adverb is typically placed immediately before the focused element: Only John tasted the soup. However, depending on the placement of sentence stress, only can focus on either tasted or the soup in John only tasted the soup.

source:HF ENG 111 Grammar: Lecture 13

[anagahan]

mmm, thank you... focusing adverb...makes sense...but i would consider it as a sentence adverb in general, since it expresses the speakers attitude/opinion towards something

this is the example that bugged me
- I'm terribly sorry. I can only come on Friday, not Saturday

so it focuses on the speakers attitude when he can come





but now im even more confused after reading through this tutorial

says that 'barely, almost, scarcely, nearly...etc' are restrictive adverbs...arent they adverbs of degree actually?

e.g. the bottle is quite full
the bottle is almost full
the bottle is nearly full

dont they show to what extent something is (in this case, almost & nearly)?

and i also see 'seldom' and 'rarely' put in here...aren't they actually adverbs of frequency, how often something happens?

and one more thing...ive come across different sources where in some, adverbs of frequency and adverbs of time are distinguished as two different categories...and according to others, they all are considered as adverbs of time.....which one is actually correct? ive always taken them as two different categories, not one


i really hate it when something which is supposed to be easy, turns out complex like this



ps. sorry i dont have anything underlined or in bold...but my browser has not been functioning properly lately