the position of ‘particularly’

Sentence 1 seems to suggest (to me) that maybe she wanted to play some other instrument. Sentence 2 suggests to me that maybe she didn't want to play any music at all. Maybe she wanted to do some other activity.

Others may interpret them differently, though. If these sentences were spoken, sentence/word stress/intonation would clarify the implicit meaning, along with gestures, facial expression, etc. Elements of prosody.

I think that either sentence could legitimately mean either of these things, and that context would make clear which was meant:

1. She didn't want to play the organ; she wanted to do something else more, e.g. read a book, sleep, cook a meal.

2. She didn't want to to play the organ; she wanted to play another musical instrument.

Actually, I agree. We need to know the prosody. Either could go either way, really, depending on how they're spoken.

Thank you, FBM. These sentences are from my English grammar book. The book says the position of 'particularly' affects its meaning but does not spell out its implications. I now understand elements of prosody determine its meaning.

Thank you for this. This helps a lot!

I should add that (certainly in British English, I don't know about other variants) using 'not particularly' before the verb could mean that the action following was not a high priority, especially at a specific time, place or situation.

I didn't particularly want to answer the phone because I was eating my lunch.

I didn't particularly want to talk about my sex life because my mother was there.

I didn't particularly want to walk in the mud because I was wearing new shoes.

You could say that a fluent native speaker might use 'I didn't particularly want to' to mean 'I was reluctant' and use 'I particularly didn't want to' to mean 'I definitely didn't want to; out of all the things I didn't want to do, this was very high in the list'.






Given the British habit of understatement, this could really mean "I definitely didn't want to

Please ignore the orphaned last line of my post above.

Enormously interesting -- the British habit of understatement. Thank you so much, Tes yeux noirs!

In connection with this, could I ask another question? Could you say that 'I was a particular wish not to do something' also mean 'I was reluctant to do something'?

You would use 'have' or 'had', not 'was'.

Thank you, Tes yeux noris.