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Two friends are talking about their loving lives.

A: Do you date only women who have something wrong with them?

B: I'm not dating anyone.

Usually, adverbs are between subject and main verb, so "only date ..." is more likely right.

Should I use "date only ..." or "only date ..." or both are fine?

It seems a pattern "verb only". I cannot find this rule/pattern in https://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/only

Could someone help me on this?

JJJohn
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    See [this post](https://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/16026/i-only-teach-you-vs-i-teach-only-you-vs-i-teach-you-only) – Kate Bunting Mar 12 '20 at 13:25

1 Answers1

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In this case "only" is used as an adverb, therefore its position depends on the focus of the sentence. Usually it is put between the subject and the main verb, so:

Do you only date women who have something wrong with them?

seems more correct to me, but according the Cambridge dictionary both of them are ok.

Source: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/only

  • Usually, adverbs are between subject and main verb, so "**only** date ..." is more likely right. – JJJohn Mar 12 '20 at 23:06
  • It seems a pattern "verb **only**". I cannot find this rule/pattern in https://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/only – JJJohn Mar 12 '20 at 23:10