In Writing Advice: Meryn Stol voted up this answer. Anne W Zahra I think Michelle Roses and Adrien Lucas Ecoffet answered the question well.  I'm just adding examples: - You can't sit in those seats.  They're for family members only.  (You could word this as They're only for family members and be perfectly correct, but that syntax would probably be less common.  Moving only to the end appears to give it additional weight when used to mean exclusively.) Only can be used to emphasize amount or price, whether you mean lack of or low cost.  However, only must precede the amount.  It can't be placed at the end of the sentence. - I know I'll get only two or three upvotes for this answer. - That shirt cost only ten dollars?  No wonder it's ugly. See question on Quora - Meryn Stol