student asking question

Is "only" necessary in this sentence?

teacher

Native speaker’s answer

Rebecca

"Only" is necessary here because the phrase "only to realize" is a standard English phrase. "Only to realize" refers to a thought process changing suddenly. Here, the narrator is saying that you can be in the elevator with your boss having the thought "I'm in the elevator with my boss", and that thought can suddenly change to ("only to realize") "I don't know what to say to my boss when we're in the elevator together". Ex: I was eating ice cream only to realize it was made from dairy, not coconuts. I can't eat dairy, so I stopped eating the ice cream.

Popular Q&As

03/26

Complete the expression with a quiz!