can merely be vs can be merely

Both "can merely be" and "can be merely" are correct, but they are used in slightly different contexts. "Can merely be" is more commonly used and emphasizes the limited extent or possibility of something happening. On the other hand, "can be merely" is less common and typically used to emphasize the adverb "merely" in a sentence.

Last updated: April 01, 2024 • 1152 views

can merely be

This phrase is correct and commonly used in English to emphasize the limited extent or possibility of something happening.

This phrase is used to convey that something can only happen to a small degree or extent. It emphasizes the restricted nature of the action or state being described.

Examples:

The problem can merely be solved by upgrading the software.
Her success can merely be attributed to hard work and dedication.
The issue can merely be a misunderstanding between the two parties.
The decision can merely be delayed, not avoided.
His reaction can merely be described as shock.

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Nor can we understand how Parliament can merely be a passive spectator in this and in other matters.
Assumptions are of two types: 1) those verifiable or falsifiable; and 2) those based on presuppositions about reality but not open to physical testing - as such, these can merely be stated at the outset.
But even if I did, I swore an oath of my own that when I put on this robe, I'd base my decisions on what can be proven over what can merely be believed.
The wage worker can merely be hired.
Offences against human rights can never be merely a matter of a country's internal affairs.
According to the ECJ, absolute impossibility can however not be merely supposed.
Not all of these things can be resolved merely with money and donations.
Other options can be found merely by searching "nausea treatments."
Setting a high level of consumer protection throughout the EU can be good, or it can be merely grandiloquent.
Because this so-called negativity is nothing but the abstract, empty form of that real living act, its content can in consequence be merely a formal content produced by abstraction from all content.
This object, which can be even merely ideal, should have a tangible and concrete manifestation that could be named law, which restricts the reach of the object.
We do not believe that these measures can be seen merely as technical ones: they are measures that have a direct impact on human rights and on privacy.
The report of the visit underlined that 'the detention of EU citizens at detention centres for third-country nationals who are illegal immigrants seems shocking and disproportionate, particularly if it is true that it can be imposed merely because a simple administrative violation has been committed.
What value - beyond the merely historiographical - can there be in raising again that most marginal question which, above all, is thought to have been settled long ago: whether or not Nietzsche had knowledge of Stirner's The Ego and Its Own?
Roadside inspections of commercial vehicles should merely be complementary to periodic testing.
But these are few suggestions in which we can merely co-participate.
The puppeteer's voice need not merely be the record of man.
The Bilderberg conference cannot merely be described as 'civil society'.
This would merely be protectionism by the back door.
The so-called astronaut... would merely be a redundant component.

Alternatives:

can only be
can simply be
can just be
can barely be
can scarcely be

can be merely

This phrase is correct but less commonly used in English. It is typically used to emphasize the adverb "merely" in a sentence.

This phrase is used to place emphasis on the adverb "merely" in a sentence, indicating that something is only of a certain nature or degree.