13.  The spirits, therefore, of those opposed to them seemed to
     be considerably damped by their continued success.—­SCOTT.

ADVERBS.

[Sidenote:  Position of only, even, etc.]

A very careful writer will so place the modifiers of a verb that the reader will not mistake the meaning.

The rigid rule in such a case would be, to put the modifier in such a position that the reader not only can understand the meaning intended, but cannot misunderstand the thought.  Now, when such adverbs as only, even, etc., are used, they are usually placed in a strictly correct position, if they modify single words; but they are often removed from the exact position, if they modify phrases or clauses:  for example, from Irving, “The site is only to be traced by fragments of bricks, china, and earthenware.”  Here only modifies the phrase by fragments of bricks, etc., but it is placed before the infinitive.  This misplacement of the adverb can be detected only by analysis of the sentence.

Exercise.

Tell what the adverb modifies in each quotation, and see if it is placed in the proper position:—­

     1.  Only the name of one obscure epigrammatist has been embalmed
     for us in the verses of his rival.—­PALGRAVE.

     2.  Do you remember pea shooters?  I think we only had them on
     going home for holidays.—­THACKERAY.

     3.  Irving could only live very modestly.  He could only afford
     to keep one old horse.—­Id.

     4.  The arrangement of this machinery could only be accounted
     for by supposing the motive power to have been steam.—­WENDELL
     PHILLIPS.

     5.  Such disputes can only be settled by arms.—­Id.

     6.  I have only noted one or two topics which I thought most
     likely to interest an American reader.—­N.P.  WILLIS.

     7.  The silence of the first night at the farmhouse,—­stillness
     broken only by two whippoorwills.—­HIGGINSON.

     8.  My master, to avoid a crowd, would suffer only thirty people
     at a time to see me.—­SWIFT.

     9.  In relating these and the following laws, I would only be
     understood to mean the original institutions.—­Id.

     10.  The perfect loveliness of a woman’s countenance can only
     consist in that majestic peace which is founded in the memory of
     happy and useful years.—­RUSKIN.

     11.  In one of those celestial days it seems a poverty that we can
     only spend it once.—­EMERSON.

     12.  My lord was only anxious as long as his wife’s anxious face
     or behavior seemed to upbraid him.—­THACKERAY.

     13.  He shouted in those clear, piercing tones that could be even
     heard among the roaring of the cannon.—­COOPER.