All highly successful salespersons are both well organized and self-motivated, characteristics absent from many sales...
laurenshovsDecember 17, 2023
when is "only" sufficient?
According to an earlier lesson, "only" is necessary and "the only" is sufficient, and yet the order for the conditional was "well-known -> successful" not "successful -> well-known"
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Onlys are tough, since only, only if, and the only can mean different things. I generally find it easier to think about sentences in terms of what guarantees what rather than trying to memorize keywords. I'll try a few examples.
If we say "you can be president only if you are 35" this seems pretty clear. To be president, one must be 35, and if one is under 35 one is not president. If P then 35
"Only people over 35 can be president" means the exact same thing, if P then 35. This creates a guarantee that anyone under 35 cannot be president.
"The only way to be president is to be over 35" also means the same thing.
I think it is much easier to think about the meaning of the sentence than to try to use trigger words and word order.
For instance: "the only people who can be president are over 35" and "people over 35 are the only people who can be president" mean the exact same thing but the word order is different.
