She's just like a guy I know. Only, he didn't get a small practice bike He bought a fucking Harley-Davidson, despite having never rode a bike.
Is it actually like "Not only did he get a small practice bike..."?
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The full stop after know is erroneous / misleading. The entire text from that point on is a "caveat" to the initial assertion, where only means except (there was this one detail about her that wasn't like the guy the writer knew). So if the other guy bough a H-D as his first bike, and "she" was somehow different", I suppose the implication is this *current (female) biker has in fact got herself a practice bike to start with. Odd phrasing though, to say the least.– FumbleFingersApr 2, 2020 at 11:35
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Where did you get this text from? Are you sure you haven't mixed up some he's and she's?– FumbleFingersApr 2, 2020 at 11:38
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@FumbleFingersReinstateMonica It's not a mixed sentence. I added the picture.– dolcoApr 2, 2020 at 11:50
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@FumbleFingersReinstateMonica This one is an old picture so I don't remember it well, but "she" is a character in a show and bought a very expensive bike. And the "guy" seems to be a real person.– dolcoApr 2, 2020 at 11:55
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I understand that now. Presumably this "Hijiri" is typically depicted riding a "practice bike" rather than a "mean machine" such as a Harley-Davidson.– FumbleFingersApr 2, 2020 at 12:07
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4 Answers
Using "Not only" instead of "only" would give the sentence a very different meaning.
If it were "Not only", it would mean that he got both a small practice bike AND a fucking Harley-Davidson.
"Only" by itself is used to distinguish and highlight the contrast between the two characters - one got a small practice bike, and one got a fucking Harley. Here it is used in the same way as "except" would be.
It is using irony to make a point - the author is saying they are so similar, except in this one specific and very important way they are very different.
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Using not only would just give you a syntactically invalid result, with no obvious "intended meaning". Apr 2, 2020 at 11:36
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I was referring to the alternative version provided by the asker: "Not only did he get a small practice bike..." which would work fine syntactically but completely change the meaning. Apr 2, 2020 at 11:46
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Ah, right. I see that now. But I'll leave my first comment because others might make the same mistake as me (unless you edit your answer text to include that clarification, in which case all these comments would become redundant anyway). Apr 2, 2020 at 11:57
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@kettle_hands Just a heads up. To avoid false alarms of profanity by system bots, which can cause problems for you, do not quote profanity that appears in pictures. If it's needed for the context of the message bleep it out. (F*******G)– user19179Apr 2, 2020 at 23:47
Those two sentences are saying different things.
Not only did he get a small practice bike...
Means he did get a small practice bike... [and something else about that].
Only, he didn't get a small practice bike He bought a fucking Harley-Davidson, despite having never rode a bike.
Means he didn't buy a small practice bike, he bought a Harley instead.
Also, rode is not the past participle of to ride. I would write "never having ridden a bike".
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To avoid false alarms from system bots, you should bleep out profanity even if it is quoted by the source.– user19179Apr 3, 2020 at 0:04
The “only” in this sentence can mean “but”. It’s trying to explain how she’s like the guy, but with one difference. Only can be replaced with “but” when there is just one thing that is being talked about.
She's just like a guy I know. Not only did he get a small practice bike, he bought a fucking Harley-Davidson, despite having never rode a bike.
This means he bought a small practice bike (which the author thinks was a bad idea) and he also bought a Harley-Davidson (which the author thinks is an even worse idea).
She's just like a guy I know. Only, he didn't get a small practice bike. He bought a fucking Harley-Davidson, despite having never rode a bike.
This means she bought a small practice bike, unlike him (the guy), who bought a Harley-Davidson (which the author thinks was a bad idea).
Here "only" means "except" or "but".
From Oxford Learner's Dictionaries:
only conjunction
(informal)
except that; but
- I'd love to come, only I have to work.
- It tastes like chicken, only stronger.
P.S. "rode" should be "ridden"