Timeline for What does this sentence in Harry Potter mean?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
8 events
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| Jul 27, 2017 at 16:07 | comment | added | FumbleFingers | One of the reasons Harry Potter became so popular is because there's an element of didacticism in Rowling's writing. She's obviously quite literate herself, and is deliberately trying to promote awareness of the breadth of English in her readers. Whose parents may often have at least glanced at the text, thought "This looks like fine writing!", and therefore been more than willing to encourage their children to read the entire series. Bear in mind I only said it's a relatively dated/literary usage - I didn't say it's no longer used, but it isn't very common in natural speech today. | |
| Jul 27, 2017 at 15:57 | history | edited | user3395 | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Jul 27, 2017 at 15:48 | comment | added | user30379 | @FumbleFingers What does the usage frequency matter? The OP was asking why the author chose to use "merely" instead of "only", and I'm pretty sure J.K. Rowling didn't Google the usage of those words before deciding which to use. The bottom line is that she did use the word, so... | |
| Jul 27, 2017 at 15:46 | comment | added | FumbleFingers | I'm not sure that edit helped your case! Like I said, no salesman today would be likely to use merely there. In fact, I see Google Books thinks it has 62 instances of For only two dollars more, and 10 of For just two dollars more. But they don't have any instances of For merely two dollars more (which to me just sounds "weird"). | |
| Jul 27, 2017 at 15:30 | history | edited | user30379 | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Jul 27, 2017 at 15:30 | comment | added | user30379 | @FumbleFingers Okay, I can change it to merely and the example will still apply. Thanks. And yes, that's actually quite the cliche pitch for TV infomercials, which is why most people don't actually use "merely" in that context, in practice. Literature though? Sure. | |
| Jul 27, 2017 at 15:23 | comment | added | FumbleFingers | I think it's a bit disingenuous to switch from adverbial merely to adjectival a mere to illustrate your minimal/exclusive distinction (which I don't necessarily disagree with anyway). Let's face it, no salesman today would be likely to tempt you with For merely two dollars more [we'll throw in eternal life and a cure for cancer]. | |
| Jul 27, 2017 at 15:03 | history | answered | user30379 | CC BY-SA 3.0 |