General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: "Does this site ONLY welcome those who voted for HRC in GE?" [View all]John1956PA
(2,654 posts)Skinner's sentence has been quoted in multiple DU posts. I took it for granted that nearly all DUers would recognize it as being his wording rather than yours.
I do believe that the modifier "only" is misplaced. Technically, the construction of the sentence indicates that the solitary action which DU takes with respect to Hillary voters is that it welcomes them. The sentence indicates that DU does nothing else with respect to Hillary voters, such as praising them, awarding them, etc. To be 100% grammatically precise, the wording should be "welcomes only Hillary voters," which means that anyone who voted for Jill Stein is not welcome, which is what I believe Skinner meant.
I meant my post to be taken in a light vein, but with a bit of a grammar lesson for those who are receptive to such a thing. The proper placement of the word "only" in sentences has been addressed by experts, such as in the following instance:
From http://www.grammarerrors.com/grammar/only-as-a-misplaced-modifier/ :
The adverb only should be placed as close as possible to the word it modifies in a sentence. Consider the following two sentences:
Example 1: The band only sang five songs at the concert.
Example 2: The band sang only five songs at the concert.
Example 1 indicates that the band sang, rather than played, five songs. The sentence in Example 2 indicates that the band sang five songs, rather than eight or ten or any other number. There is a distinct difference in meaning. However, it is common for only to be misplaced in a sentence, making the meaning of the sentence ambiguous.
Peace