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Limiting Modifiers
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
Table of Contents
- Positioning of Limiting Modifiers
- Real-Life Examples of Limiting Modifiers
- Why Limiting Modifiers Are Important
- Printable Test

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.
(French-born American composer Edgard Varese)
(It should be ...keep it only a few minutes.)
- I don't give a damn for a man that can only spell a word one way.
(American writer Mark Twain)
(It should be ...spell a word only one way.)
- Place only immediately to the left of the word(s) it governs.
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