I saw only / only saw one bedbug

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I saw only one bedbug.
I only saw one bedbug.

Do the sentences have the same meaning?

Thanks.

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If you want to emphasize that you just saw one bedbug, I would use your first sentence. Your second sentence implies that something or someone else was or might also have been present, but you didn’t see them. So, in my opinion they do not have the same meaning.

E.g.: I saw only one bedbug (not two or more).
E.g.: I only saw one bedbug (but nothing else).

Another: Someone’s questioned by the police.

P: Did you see anyone else coming out of the room?
Y: No, I only saw him (coming out the room).

Sorry, I had to give you some examples and reprhrase my explanation.

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No.
The adverb ‘only’ stresses the word before which it is used.
I saw only one bedbug. (You didn’t see any more than one bedbug)
I only saw one bedbug. (You just saw one bedbug and didn’t see anything else)

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Anglo, do you ever bother to read other people’s messages?

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Wouldn’t it sound better if ‘Y’ said: I saw only him coming out of the room?

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Well, Lawrence…I think it would, but would you please elaborate on the matter? :grinning: :innocent:
BTW: Thanks for reading my post. :grinning: :grinning: :grinning:

In addition, it depends on whether you assume that there were others in the room or not. My version doesn’t necessarily imply anything about other actions or occurences, nor other people being present or not in the room; it simply emphasizes that I specifically saw him coming out of the room.

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As I have already said, the restrictive adverb ‘ONLY’ is placed just before the word or phrase which is required to be emphasized as in the following cases.

Only I kissed her at the park yesterday. (none but me)
I only kissed her at the park yesterday. (didn’t do anything else)
I kissed only her at the park yesterday. (nobody else)
I kissed her only at the park yesterday. (nowhere else)
I kissed her at the park only yesterday. (no other day)

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Thank you Lawrence.

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@Anglophile provided a very nice illustration of the different possibilities for “only” in a sentence.
I would point out that in speaking these sentences, the emphasis is on both the “only” and the word being restricted. Using the bold to indicate emphasis here, that is:

Only I kissed her at the park yesterday. (none but me)
I only kissed her at the park yesterday. (didn’t do anything else)
I kissed only her at the park yesterday. (nobody else)
I kissed her only at the park yesterday. (nowhere else)
I kissed her at the park only yesterday. (no other day)

The last sentence, however, .”only” means something different to me:
I kissed her at the park as recently as yesterday.

Here, because there is no ambiguity as to what is being restricted, I would place the “only” at the end of the sentence:

I kissed her at the park yesterday, only.

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I only saw him coming out of the room. (didn’t see any one else).
Isn’t that the same reasoning, then?

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I kissed her at the park yesterday only.
Yes, when you place the adverb at the end, it appears to be modifying the whole sentence!

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