student asking question

What is the meaning of "only" here? I don't know the difference when I remove "only" from here.

teacher

Native speaker’s answer

Rebecca

The word "only" here is used to mean only until, not until, or only under certain circumstances. So he is saying that it wasn't until his parents promised he would go to college that she finally decided to change her mind and sign the papers. Here's a few other examples of this word used in similar contexts: Ex: It's only until you turn twenty-one that you will be legally allowed to drink alcohol. Ex: You need to graduate high school. Only then will you be able to get into a decent college.

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