Where should I put stress in the sentence below?
If only I knew who it was from
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3The stress could be placed on any of the eight words, depending on which one you wanted to emphasise. – WS2 Nov 26 '16 at 23:01
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We need more context. Something like "I've had a Valentine's card. If only I knew who it was from! I'm dying with excitement." or "Someone's sent me a poison-pen letter. If only I knew who it was from: I'd knock their lights out!" The stress in those examples is different. Please add your context. – Andrew Leach♦ Nov 26 '16 at 23:20
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1Although I agree with WS2 and Andrew Leach's comments, I think there's a natural stress on only. Consider Andrew's Valentine's card example. The preamble tends to place the primary stress on who, but the natural cadence places a small stress on only as well. – Lawrence Nov 26 '16 at 23:33
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@Lawrence Saying the Valentine’s card example card example out loud and not giving any extra prominence to any part of the sentence that would require additional context to justify, I count three primarily stressed words: in descending order of stress prominence: Valentine’s, from, only. I wouldn’t stress who(m) unless I had some contextual reason to. – Janus Bahs Jacquet Nov 27 '16 at 0:32
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1Why is this marked "British"? I cannot help but wonder where the language of Her Majesty’s Queendom enters into this question, as opposed to the language the rest of us all speak. :) – tchrist♦ Nov 27 '16 at 2:08
3
From my unpublished play The Kidnapped Goat. Dramatis personae:
Police Detective
Mysterious Man
Act I, Scene I, the Police Detectives, holding a blood-stained sheet of notepaper in his hand, inquires of the Mysterious Man about a kidnapping.
Police Detective (to the Mysterious Man): We can solve this case only with your help since you're the only one who knows who sent the ransom note.
Mysterious Man: Ah, but that would be true if only I knew who it was from. It's possible you're mistaken: there may be other who can help you, and I may not be able to.
Police Detective: Do you mean you know who sent the note but decline to help us or do you mean you don't know anything helpful?
Mysterious Man: If only I knew who it was from, then I could help, but I don't know, so I can't.
Police Detective: Then we're at an impasse.
Mysterious Man: That would be true if only I knew who it was from, but there are others.
Police Detective: How about giving us an educated guess?
Mysterious Man: If only I knew who it was from would I help. Guessing will do more harm than good.
Police Detective (holding up the paper): Can you tell us anything at all about this note?
Mysterious Man: If only I knew who it was from could I tell you more, say about where it was mailed from or the motives of the kidnappers.
Police Detective: We have had several ransom notes, but you'll see that this one is bloodstained, which worries us. Can you tell us about the other notes?
Mysterious Man: If only I knew who it (gesturing to the note in the Police Detective's hand) was from could I tell you about the others.
Police Detective: We expect more notes from the kidnappers.
Mysterious Man: If only I knew who it (again gesturing to the blood-stained note) was from could I tell you about who will send further notes.
Police Detective: This note arrived at its final destination after having been passed though several intermediaries. Does that tell you anything?
Mysterious Man: If only I knew who it was from could I tell you anything about the route it took.
The lights go out; a shot is heard; a voice heretofore unheard shouts, "What's all this then?"
Curtain.
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+1 But ... the only in your first example is modifying the word I and means something like not apart from , but in OP's sentence it is arguably modifying the whole clause and has a different meaning. – Araucaria Nov 27 '16 at 13:32
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2@Araucaria Everybody's a critic. No wonder I can't get this play produced. – deadrat Nov 27 '16 at 18:37
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I'd produce one of your longer works - only you wouldn't want me to because I'd be a rubbish producer ... – Araucaria Nov 27 '16 at 22:42
