MADRID, March 10 (EUROPA PRESS) –
the academic Arturo Perez Reverte has defended put “always” tilde to the adverb “only”.‘ in case the writer perceives a “risk of ambiguity” in all situations. “That’s the trick‘ the writer added after the controversy that arose around the word.
Pérez-Reverte has responded to several users via social networks who had doubts about whether or not to tag this word. One of the users assured the author that for him “there is always a risk of ambiguity”, to which the author replied that “in this case always” “solo” must be marked.
“If the RAE Plenary Session confirms, as it did yesterday, that ‘only’ can be written with an accent ‘in the opinion of the draftsman’ if it is considered that there is a risk of ambiguity, this means that the tilde in “only” cannot be considered a misspelling if it refers to “only”.‘ the author explained in a tweet collected by Europa Press.
Another user has pointed to a text leading to the RAE’s explanation in this regard, ensuring that “it is obligatory to write the adverb ‘only’ without an accent in contexts where its use carries no risk of ambiguity brings”. .
Pérez-Reverte then recovered another statement from the institution, stating that “it is optional to mark the adverb only in contexts where, in the opinion of the author, its use involves a risk of ambiguity” and alerts the user that “he has poor general understanding”. “And besides, if you don’t mind, I was there,” he added wryly.
“For us, the hint is very clear: the risk of ambiguity is appreciated by those who write the text and who know the context better than anyone else. Therefore, his judgment has the greatest authority,” stressed the scientist, who also responded to the doubts with an example sentence with ambiguity.
“If you write “Manolo only has coffee for breakfast” without the tilde, it’s not clear whether Manolo only has coffee for breakfast every morning (no churros or anything like that) or if he only has it when his wife has gone off with someone else is. In addition to the risk of divorce, there is a risk of ambiguity,” he commented humorously.
The RAE concluded last Thursday’s plenary session, which revisited this controversy of the accent in “Solo,” and endorsed keeping the “amendment,” usually after a “peaceful” debate and in which there were “neither winners nor lapses.” ” gave. .
In particular, the RAE last week stated that “the option to tick or not ‘only’ is retained where there is a risk of ambiguity,” and introduced the phrase “in the writer’s judgment”, so that the writer judges “whether or not there is ambiguity”.
Pérez-Reverte himself, who was one of the last to leave RAE headquarters after attending the “tempestuous” plenary session he called last week, avoided commenting on the controversy and joked with the media. “I have no idea, I don’t know what you’re talking about”were the words collected by Europa Press that the author uttered.
