ONLY, ONLY, ONLY: So many meanings!

33,143 views ・ 2024-10-11

English with Ronnie


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Hi.
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It's only Ronnie giving you this lesson.
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That's it.
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Just me.
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This lesson is hard for me to explain to
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you, and I'm sure you just get, like, "What?"
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Really confused with this...
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Without my lesson.
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So, the focus today is on the word "only".
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So, bear with me here.
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We can put "only" in between, and at the beginning,
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and at the end of each of these words, but
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the meaning of the sentence changes.
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So, the first one, "Only she told Bob that she liked him."
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If I put "only" at the beginning of the sentence,
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this is going to emphasize the fact that nobody
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else gave Bob information; only she gave Bob the information.
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She was the only person that spoke to Bob, so only she did it.
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Okay.
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We've got the first one down.
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The next one.
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If we put "only" before "told", we say, "She only told Bob that she liked him."
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This has two meanings.
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It can mean the first...
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The same as the first one.
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She only told Bob that she liked him.
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Nobody else has this information.
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Okay?
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Nobody else gave Bob the information.
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The second meaning is this is the only information that Bob got.
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So, she only told Bob what?
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She only told Bob that she liked him.
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She didn't tell Bob any extra information.
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And Bob's like, "Uh-uh."
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And?
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She's like, "No, that's it.
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That's it.
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That's it.
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That's it.
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It's just that.
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Nothing else, Bob."
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Okay?
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Okay?
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If we put "only" here, "She told only Bob that she liked him."
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This means she didn't tell anyone else.
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It's a secret.
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Okay?
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Let's write that down.
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It's important.
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So, this is a big secret, except I don't know how to spell "secret".
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No.
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S-E...
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Can you help me out?
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S-E-C-R-E-T.
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Good.
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Yes, we did it.
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Okay.
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So, it's a secret.
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She only told Bob.
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She didn't tell anyone else.
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The next one, "She told Bob only that she liked him."
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This one is the same as this one.
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So, she didn't tell Bob more information.
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These guys are the same.
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So, if we say, "She only told Bob that she liked him" or "She told Bob only that she
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liked him", Bob is just like, "Oh, you like me?"
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Ends?
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No.
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Nothing else.
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That's it.
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That's all you get, Bob.
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Ask some questions, Bob.
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See what your answer is.
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Next one.
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If we put here, "She told Bob that only she liked him", uh-oh, hmm, Bob's kind of a bit
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of a loser because no one else likes Bob.
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Okay?
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This girl is the only girl that likes Bob, so she's like, "Bob, I'm the only girl that
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likes you.
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This is your...
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It's just me.
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You got it.
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It's your choice."
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Poor Bob.
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So, now we get to another tricky one, and this is, "What is going on here, Ronnie?"
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I give up.
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She told Bob that she only liked him.
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If I emphasize the word "liked" here, it means
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that she doesn't love him, she doesn't hate
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him, she just...
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She just doesn't love him.
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She kind of likes him.
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So, in slang, we say, like, "Bob's in the friend zone."
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Okay?
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If you're in the friend zone, right here, friend zone, it means that this girl, yeah,
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she's not going to be your girlfriend; she will be your friend.
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And that's cool sometimes, too.
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Bob, don't worry about it.
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But...
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Oops, I'm just kicking things.
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So, if I said, "She told Bob that she only liked him."
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I only like you; I don't love you.
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But if I put the emphasis on "him", like this,
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"She told Bob that she only liked him", that
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changes the meaning to a very positive meaning.
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English is so confusing.
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Saying that she doesn't like anyone else, only Bob.
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So, be careful on the emphasis.
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Okay?
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So, one more time.
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"She told Bob that she only liked him."
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I don't love you, Bob; I just like you.
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Bad for Bob.
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"She told Bob that she only liked him."
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Good for Bob.
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Bob's in there.
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Mm-hmm.
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All right.
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So, these two, these three can have the same meaning as well.
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"Bob, you're a lucky guy.
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She told Bob that she liked only him."
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I could be a little psycho at the same time.
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Means she doesn't like anyone else, only you, Bob.
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It's all on you.
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"She told Bob that she liked him only."
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Okay.
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We don't know if this is a romantic partnership
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or they're just friends or mates, but Bob,
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you're in for some trouble with this lady.
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She doesn't like anyone else.
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She only likes you, or she kind of only just likes you.
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So, English, the word "only", we fight about it.
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"Oh, if we put it here, it's this; if we put it here, it's this."
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I hope that this lesson kind of irons out or clears out some questions that you have.
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I'm going to go over here and just only give
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you the opportunity to absorb this and look
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at the board, take notes.
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I'm only over here.
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I'm over here only.
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Only am I over here.
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