Is “only” a negative adverb

negationonly

The site 'thefreedictionary.com' includes the word 'only' in the group of negative adverbs with hardly, scarcely, barely, seldom, etc. and specially categorizes it as an adverb creating 'conditional negativity'.

Example sentences:

  1. I will only go to the movie if you go too. (Meaning: I am not going to the movie if you don’t go.)

  2. I’ll only help you when you ask for it. (Meaning: I will not help you when you don’t ask for help.)

'Only' also requires an inverted word order when it comes at the beginning of the clause, just like the other negative adverbs.

3.Only if you go too will I go to the movie.

  1. Only when you ask for help will I help you.

Sentences 3 and 4 show that 'only' acts exactly as a negative word.

My questions are:

  1. Should a sentence containing 'only' be treated as a negative sentence?

  2. Which is the correct Tag Question to the following sentence?

We will only attend the function if we get an official invitation,…..?

will we? / won't we? / No Tag Question possible

Best Answer

No: "Only" is not negative, but it is semantically close to a negative, in that "Only John liked it", for example, entails "No one other than John liked it".

We will only attend the function if we get an official invitation.

Your example above requires the negative tag "won't we?", thus proving that the clause it is attached to is a positive one.

  1. Only if you go too will I go to the movie.

  2. Only when you ask for help will I help you.

  1. and 4. have subject-auxiliary inversion. This occurs in declarative clauses only when certain types of element are put in front position. Negatives are one very obvious type of element that trigger subject-auxiliary inversion when fronted:

Never had I seen such chaos.

At no stage were they in danger.

The inversion is also found with some items that are not similar to negatives:

John enjoyed it and so did Robert.

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