Comments on: How to start a sentence with “only after / when / if”

By: Phil Williams

Phil Williams — Wed, 05 Mar 2025 15:09:46 +0000

In reply to Jepsen Colleen.

Hi Colleen, that looks fine to me, what is your concern with it?

By: Jepsen Colleen

Jepsen Colleen — Tue, 04 Mar 2025 01:36:55 +0000

Hi Phil,
Is the following sentence correct?

Only hard inquiries, such as applying for a loan, can affect your score.

Thank you,
Colleen

By: Phil Williams

Phil Williams — Fri, 16 Feb 2024 17:00:07 +0000

In reply to Mihaela Kopasz.

Hi Michaela, yes I would say the second version with the inversion is clearer, without the inversion it sounds a little unnatural/unclear.

It perhaps reads a bit far into it but the main confusion here would be if you don’t do the inversion it doesn’t properly connect with only, so grammatically that sounds more like, ‘Only, if you buy two products you can get one for free’ (i.e. like ‘But, if you…’ , as opposed to clearly emphasising ‘It is only if you…’). I hope that makes sense!

By: Mihaela Kopasz

Mihaela Kopasz — Wed, 14 Feb 2024 15:53:48 +0000

Hi Phil,

I was wondering whether this sentence is correct?
“Only if you buy two products you can get one for free.”
It sounds natural to me, but according to the grammar rule of inversion it should be
“”Only if you buy two products can you get one for free.”

By: Phil Williams

Phil Williams — Thu, 31 Aug 2023 11:32:56 +0000

In reply to Diana.

Hi Diana,

How do you mean? With any sentence in English, really, we can place the stress on different words to give different emphasis…

Phil

By: Diana

Diana — Wed, 30 Aug 2023 21:52:34 +0000

Hello,

Could you explain where to place the sentence stress, intonation?

By: Phil Williams

Phil Williams — Wed, 05 Jul 2023 12:38:59 +0000

In reply to Chu Min Wei.

Sorry for the slow response, I’ve been away, but I’d probably amend it slightly, e.g. “Only then did Matthew release Miss Murphy”. We typically use this construction, “Only then did…”; without the “did” it could be confusing as we’d probably take “Only then” on its own to present a contrast, a bit like saying “but then”.

By: Chu Min Wei

Chu Min Wei — Wed, 28 Jun 2023 06:52:25 +0000

Good day sir! How about this sentence, is it correct?
They continued to play until the water turned chilly. Only then Matthew released Miss Murphy from his embrace.
Is the ‘only then’ used here correct? As I received comments saying it was wrong QAQ.

By: Phil Williams

Phil Williams — Mon, 10 Oct 2022 11:17:16 +0000

In reply to Luna.

Hi Luna,

You’re close, but missing the future tense: “Only after I brush up my French WILL I go to Paris.” Note, I would also keep the phrasal verb together as it sounds a little simpler.

Phil

By: Luna

Luna — Mon, 10 Oct 2022 10:58:05 +0000

I won’t go to Paris until I improve my French (brush)
– Only after ………………………. I go to Paris.
my attempt : Only after I brush my French up I go to Paris.

Is this correct? This was an exam question.. and that was my answer.. apparently I got it wrong.. but I can find the right answer.

Thank you!