Join In
Twitter
YouTube
Weekly Newsletter
Libraries
A-Z Grammatical Terms
A-Z Confused Words
A-Z Awkward Plurals
Punctuation Lessons
Common Mistakes
(ordered by seriousness) ESL Vocabulary Lists Parts of Speech Lists A-Z Idioms and Proverbs Tests and Games Top Tip Install a grammar checker
for your browser
(ordered by seriousness) ESL Vocabulary Lists Parts of Speech Lists A-Z Idioms and Proverbs Tests and Games Top Tip Install a grammar checker
for your browser
Limiting Modifiers
This Page Includes...
What Are Limiting Modifiers? (with Examples)
Limiting modifiers impose restrictions on the words they modify. The most common limiting modifiers are:- Almost
- Hardly
- Nearly
- Just
- Only
- Merely

Positioning of Limiting Modifiers
The word (or words) a limiting modifier governs is usually immediately to its right in a sentence. In each example below, the limiting modifier is shaded, and the word it governs is in bold.- Martin knows hardly anybody.
- He hardly knows anybody.
- Only Martin eats pears.
- Martin eats only pears.
Real-Life Examples of Limiting Modifiers
- Space is only an hour's drive away if your car could go straight upwards. (Astronomer Fred Hoyle)
- I'm not afraid to die. I just don't want to be there when it happens. (Filmmaker and actor Woody Allen)
- Most human beings have an almost infinite capacity for taking things for granted. (writer and philosopher Aldous Huxley)
Look at these examples:
- Only Jack eats ice-cream. (Jill does not.)
- Jack only eats ice-cream. (Jack does not throw the ice-cream.)
- Jack eats only ice-cream. (Jack does not eat strawberries.)
- Everyone is born with genius, but most people only keep it a few minutes.
(Edgard Varese, 1883-1965)
(It should be only a few minutes.)
- I don't give a damn for a man that can only spell a word one way.
(Mark Twain, 1835-1910)
(It should be only one way.)
- Place only immediately to the left of the word(s) it governs.
Help Us Improve Grammar Monster
- Do you disagree with something on this page?
- Did you spot a typo?
Find Us Quicker!
- When using a search engine (e.g., Google, Bing), you will find Grammar Monster quicker if you add #gm to your search term.