Placement of "also"

[Sparklesdust]

Would somebody mind explaining the meaning of the following, please? The word "also" has been moved around, but I'm having trouble understanding how the meaning of the text has changed.

"We welcomed the Prime Minister to the conference. We were pleased to be joined by the Chancellor also."

"We welcomed the Prime Minister to the conference. We were pleased to be joined also by the Chancellor."

"We welcomed the Prime Minister to the conference.We were pleased to also be joined also by the Chancellor."

"We welcomed the Prime Minister to the conference. We were pleased also to be joined by the Chancellor."

"We welcomed the Prime Minister to the conference. We were pleased to be also joined by the Chancellor."

"We welcomed the Prime Minister to the conference. We were also pleased to be joined by the Chancellor."

Thank you for your time.

 

[Skrej]

Not all of these variations sound natural, but they all have the same meaning. The meaning of the sentence doesn't change with the position of 'also'.

They welcomed the Prime Minister to the conference. The Chancellor joined the conference as well, which made them happy.

 

[tedmc]

How about: We welcomed the Prime Minister to the conference. We were also pleased have the Chancellor grace the occasion.

 

[Matthew Wai]

We were also pleased have the Chancellor grace the occasion.

'To' is missing after 'pleased'.

 

[Rover_KE]

Welcome to the forum, sparklesdust.

Only #1 sounds natural to me. In #3 you've used 'also' twice.

How about: We welcomed the Prime Minister to the conference. We were also pleased to have the Chancellor grace the occasion.

It introduces a note of sycophancy which was mercifully absent from the original.

 

[Sparklesdust]

Thank you all for your replies.


Thanks for pointing out the error in #3, Rover_KE.

Maybe it would be better if I explained my understanding of each of the examples.

1."We welcomed the Prime Minister to the conference. We were pleased to be joined by the Chancellor also."
My understanding: We welcomed the Prime Minister to the conference. We were pleased that the Chancellor was one of the other attendees. The writer isn't necessarily pleased that the Prime Minister attended (although unlikely). The Oxford Dictionary says to welcome is to "greet (someone arriving) in a polite or friendly way". I've often welcomed people to events, even though I haven't been pleased to be joined by them.


2."We welcomed the Prime Minister to the conference. We were pleased to be joined also by the Chancellor."
Same as #1

3."We welcomed the Prime Minister to the conference.We were pleased to also be joined by the Chancellor."
Same as #1 and #2

4."We welcomed the Prime Minister to the conference. We were pleased also to be joined by the Chancellor."
Same as #1, #2, and #3

5."We welcomed the Prime Minister to the conference. We were pleased to be also joined by the Chancellor."
Same as #1, #2, #3 and #4

6."We welcomed the Prime Minister to the conference. We were also pleased to be joined by the Chancellor."
We welcomed the Prime Minister to the conference. We were pleased that the Prime Minister attended and pleased that the Chancellor attended.

I've been reading about how the placement of "also" can change the meaning of sentences, so the responses I've received to my post so far have left me rather confused. :-?

 

[Eckaslike]

To me,

1. Is fine.
2. Sounds contrived.
3. I have heard used, but wouldn't use it.
4. Is passable, but I wouldn't use it.
5. I have heard used, but wouldn't use it.
6. Is fine. This is probably the one I'd naturally use.

Some of them sound like stretching the point for the sake of the exercise.

I think much of this will be down to people's knowledge of grammar, and also down to regional traditions and preferences of sentence construction. You could probably get away with many of them in speech, because people would still know what you mean, but when things are written down they are usually more formal.

 

[Sparklesdust]

Thanks for responding.

So, do you think the meaning changes depending on where "also" is?

Have I misinterpreted the 6 sentences?

The first sentence gives some context, so I'm sure people would understand what the writer is saying. I'm just trying to learn the rules so that I can write perfectly.

 

[Skrej]

Maybe it would be better if I explained my understanding of each of the examples.

1."We welcomed the Prime Minister to the conference. We were pleased to be joined by the Chancellor also."
My understanding: We welcomed the Prime Minister to the conference. We were pleased that the Chancellor was one of the other attendees. The writer isn't necessarily pleased that the Prime Minister attended (although unlikely). The Oxford Dictionary says to welcome is to "greet (someone arriving) in a polite or friendly way". I've often welcomed people to events, even though I haven't been pleased to be joined by them. No. There is nothing in this to suggest whether anybody is actually pleased or not. They may be pleased, they may just be pretending to be pleased, we have no idea. All we know is that the speaker says 'we are pleased', so we have to accept that as the truth.

No, the meaning does not change, regardless of what position 'also' falls in. As we've commented, some of the variations don't seem natural or grammatical, but the meaning is still the same in each of them, even if we're suggesting that you not use particular variations. The Prime Minister was in attendance, and they were pleased that the Chancellor joined as well.

 

[Sparklesdust]

All we know is that the speaker says 'we are pleased', so we have to accept that as the truth. I accept that is true. What I was trying to understand was if 'we are pleased' relates to the Chancellor only or if it relates to both the Chancellor and the Prime Minister. I think you have confirmed that it relates to the Chancellor only by writing the following: The Prime Minister was in attendance, and they were pleased that the Chancellor joined as well.

No, the meaning does not change, regardless of what position 'also' falls in.

Are you saying this is a general rule? Or just in the examples I have given? I'm wondering if the difference in meaning is a BrE thing. This is what I found on the BBC website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/l...outenglish/2010/01/100126_aae_also_page.shtml

 

[Skrej]

I don't think it has anything to do with any particular variety of English.

I'm not sure what the author means by changing the meaning. I agree, there are variations in emphasis that do depend upon the placement of 'also', but to my mind, changing the emphasis doesn't really change the underlying basic meaning, although it may alter the nuances of the sentence.

I suspect that he doesn't mean a literal change of meaning, just a change in nuance. The core meaning is still the same in all the examples from your source - The speaker thinks you should consider quitting your job as well as whatever other actions have taken place.

All we know is that the speaker says 'we are pleased', so we have to accept that as the truth. I accept that is true. What I was trying to understand was if 'we are pleased' relates to the Chancellor only or if it relates to both the Chancellor and the Prime Minister. I think you have confirmed that it relates to the Chancellor only by writing the following: The Prime Minister was in attendance, and they were pleased that the Chancellor joined as well.

No, 'we are pleased' refers to the entire group assembled for the speech. I suppose 'we' could also refer to the group or committee responsible for organizing the event. We probably need a little more context to make that distinction. The person saying 'we' is speaking on behalf of everyone present at the conference, or possibly on behalf of the organizers of the conference.

 

[Sparklesdust]

No, 'we are pleased' refers to the entire group assembled for the speech. I suppose 'we' could also refer to the group or committee responsible for organizing the event. We probably need a little more context to make that distinction. The person saying 'we' is speaking on behalf of everyone present at the conference, or possibly on behalf of the organizers of the conference.

Thank you for taking the time to respond.

Sorry - maybe I didn't properly explain what I meant. I would like to know which of the following the writer saying:

A) We were pleased that the Chancellor joined us.
B) We were pleased that the Chancellor and the Prime Minister joined us.

I think that the writer has said A, even though they may well have been pleased to be joined by the Prime Minister too.

This is a better webpage, explaining the different position of "also": http://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/16338/how-to-use-also-in-a-sentence

There is an interesting blog post about the placement of "also" in an article that was printed in the New York Times: http://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2012/11/adverbs.html