Common Errors that Writers Commit

The other day, I wrote a few sentences on the board and then tried to find the reactions of the students. The students were quite new to such word play, and they seemed to be amused. I let them read these sentences and then told them what each sentence meant.

After a while I added information in the brackets and they seemed to be quite amused.

Only Mike reads that blue book. (No one else reads. Mike is the only person who reads.)

Mike only reads that blue book. (Mike does not do anything thing else to the book; he just reads that book.)

Mike reads only that blue book. (Mike does not read any other blue book present there.)

Mike reads that only blue book. (There is only one blue book present and Mike reads it.)

Mike reads that blue book only. (Mike does not do anything else except reading that book.)

So you see, just one word at a different place in different sentences can drastically change the meaning.