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01Hello!
02This week on Ask a Teacher, we answer a question from Madur about the usage of had-only and only-had in English.
03Hi!
04I would like to clear my concept regarding usage of had-only and only-had in written English.
05Thank you for writing, Madur.
06I'm happy to answer this question.
07In general, differences in meaning between had-only and only-had depend on the situation, and in many cases, there is no difference in meaning between the two.
08In spoken English, the tone of voice we use helps make the meaning clear.
09But, without the help of the voice, a writer must write carefully to avoid confusion about had-only and only-had.
10Let's look at the usage of these terms with the following three cases.
11Case 1.
12The same sentence, two meanings.
13Consider two situations.
14In the first, you wanted to give something to drink to five people, but you only had enough to give two people drinks.
15In this situation, the sentence, I only had two drinks, means you did not have enough drinks for five people.
16It expresses the idea that there was a problem.
17In the second situation, someone said you drank too much alcohol at a party, but you disagreed.
18So, you said, I only had two drinks.
19In this case, you have expressed the idea that there was not a problem with how much you drank.
20So, the same sentence, I only had two drinks, can express a problem or the lack of a problem.
21The sentence, the sentence, I only had two drinks, by itself, without any situation connected to it, is ambiguous.
22Ambiguous means that something is unclear because it can be understood in more than one way.
23Case 2.
24Two different sentences, same meaning.
25Consider these two sentences.
26We had only one liter of water.
27We only had one liter of water.
28Each sentence can mean that there is a problem, that we needed more than one liter.
29In general, when the adverb only follows the verb had, the adverb is closer to the object of the sentence and helps show that there is, or might be, a problem.
30Case 3.
31Two sentences, different meanings.
32The sentence, we had only one liter of water, usually means that we wanted or needed more water.
33On the other hand, we only had one liter of water, might mean that there is no problem.
34For example, if there were 50 liters of water, drinking one liter would usually not be a problem.
35The examples from all of the above cases help us see how important it is to explain the situation.
36That is because only had can have two meanings, depending on the situation.
37Last, there is another use of had only, which comes from conditional statements, such as the following.
38If I had only been there sooner, I could have seen her.
39Here, the use of had only, following the word if, expresses regret.
40We hope this explanation helps you, Madur.
41Do you have a question about American English?
42Send us an email at learningenglish at voanews.com And that's Ask a Teacher.
43I'm Andrew Smith.
44Ask a Teacher.
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