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1)He held the thought that women in the upper class (and in only the upper class) needed to be educated and trained to become lords.

2)He held the thought that women in the upper class (and only in the upper class) needed to be educated and trained to become lords.

Should I place the word "only" before or after "in"? Thanks.

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    Regardless of grammatical correctness, the first one is much more awkward. Mar 9, 2016 at 8:41

3 Answers 3

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I would omit in altogether:

He held the thought that women in the upper class (and only the upper class) needed to be educated and trained to become lords.

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For In only the upper class, the only restricts the group (to the upper class as opposed to the lower orders). For Only in the upper class, the only restricts in the inclusion (in, as opposed to out). But no matter which you restrict, there are only two groups under discussion -- upperclass women and and female commoners. So both placements of only end up meaning the same thing. But this isn't always the case. Consider the following two sentences:

I hear the sound only inside my house.
I hear the sound inside only my house.

A reasonable interpretation of the first sentence is the the sound is audible in my house, but I can't hear it once I go into my yard. A reasonable interpretation of the second sentence is that the sound is audible in my house but in nobody else's house. The interpretations are much more certain in speech, if the italicized words are emphasized.

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I think the meaning differs in both the sentences.

1 -> Means that among all the women, only those who are from the upper class need to be educated. 2 -> Means that among all the persons in the upper class, only women should be educated.

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