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Out of the two sentences, which one is correct?

  1. You should have also named it the Daily prophet.
  2. You should also have named it the Daily prophet.

My guess is it's the first one.

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See an explanation from the book Line by Line that I cite in the answer to this question: english.stackexchange.com/q/79067/18655 – JLG Nov 9 '12 at 22:25

1 Answer

up vote 3 down vote

And

3 . You should have named it the Daily Prophet also

All correct, different shades of meaning.

  1. Among the other names you gave it, Daily prophet should have been one
  2. Among the other things you did to it, naming it Daily Prophet should have been one of them
  3. Among the things you did today, naming it Daily Prophet should have been one

More examples

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2  
Excellent summary! I'm not sure every speaker would always make all those distinctions in every usage, but they're definitely there. – FumbleFingers Nov 9 '12 at 22:04
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I love English :))) – mplungjan Nov 9 '12 at 22:06
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So do I, but sometimes I find it a bit disconcerting that you guys in the Netherlands often turn out to have a better understanding of how it hangs together than we native speakers do! Not that I know whether you're a native English speaker anyway, but I think on average people in the Netherlands are more likely to know several languages quite well. Only my own theory, but I think that helps them become more consciously aware of "quirky" aspects like the one covered here. – FumbleFingers Nov 9 '12 at 22:16
4 . You also should have named it the Daily Prophet. You shouldn't have chosen a name different to the one Dumbledore gave it. 5. Also, you should have named it the Daily Prophet. And another thing - you should have named it the Daily Prophet. – Edwin Ashworth Nov 9 '12 at 23:12
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Words such as also, which can appear in various positions in the sentence with different shades of meaning, have traditionally been known as additive adverbs. They form a reasonably cohesive group along with exclusives such as just, only, and particularizers such as particularly. Because they have varied roles ('modifying' verbs, nouns, clauses ...) care needs to be taken not to misplace them. Also, a more logical classification than adverb is warranted; 'multi-purpose modifier' is a more accurate though admittedly obviously blanket term. – Edwin Ashworth Nov 9 '12 at 23:17
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