PLEASE Help me diagram this sentence! Thank you!

[Legallyconfused]

"Flowers can only make you happy by triggering your happy brain chemicals."

I know that "only" indicates a necessary conditions but what is "only" referring to in this sentence? I feel like it's trying to say that If flowers make you happy, they must have triggered your happy brain chemicals. BUT the "only" is next to "make you happy." WOW I am confused. Any help would be much appreciated!
Thanks in advance!

[Luke Haqq]

Hi Legallyconfused!

I can certainly help with diagramming the sentence you provided.

First, it's great that you're seeking to get clarity on understanding how the word "only" functions in conditional reasoning; it often confuses people, and a failure to understand its function can result in diagramming conditional reasoning incorrectly. If you have PowerScore's full-length course books, I would encourage you to look at Lesson 2. Pages 2-6 through 2-9 provide an especially useful overview of some of the most common language used to introduce conditional reasoning.

On page 2-8 in particular, PowerScore provides a list of words commonly used to introduce sufficient and necessary conditions, with "only" being a word used to introduce necessary conditions. I recognize that in the way the sentence you provided is written, "only" seems somewhat embedded, but it is still modifying what is being said about brain chemicals (they are the only mechanism through which flowers can make you happy). This means the condition modified by "only"--happy brain chemicals--would be placed on the right side of the arrow, as the necessary condition:

Flowers make you happy happy brain chemicals

That is, "If flowers make you happy, then they triggered your happy brain chemicals." Another way of saying this could be, "Flowers can make you happy only by triggering your happy brain chemicals," or equivalently, "Flowers can only make you happy by triggering your happy brain chemicals."

Hope that helps!