The sentence is: I only drink English tea. Is only an adjective or adverb in this case?

Question

Is "only" in this sentence an adjective or an adverb? The sentence is: I only drink English tea. Please explain why, because I would like to know so I could learn about it. I know that, for example, an adverb only usually looks like this: "there are only a limited number of tickets available", and an adjective only usually looks like this: "the only medal we had ever won".

Answer 1

I only drink English tea.

"Only" is here a focusing adverb, where "English tea" is clearly its focus. The salient interpretation is "I drink English tea and no other tea" (or "nothing else").

Normally, "only" would precede its focus, as in "I drink only English tea", but where the focus is contained within a verb phrase, "only" is commonly non-adjacent, functioning as modifier to the whole verb phrase.

Thus in your example "only" modifies the verb phrase "drink English tea".

Answer 2

American Heritage Dictionary classifies that use as an adverb:

AHD "only"3
adv. 3. Exclusively; solely: facts known only to us.

Merriam-Webster agrees:
M-W "only"1b
adv. 1b solely, exclusively known only to him

I think the word "only" is characterizing "drink", not "English tea", hence it's an adverb. The word that can replace it, "exclusively", is an adverb. I agree that it would be clearer if "only" directly preceded "English tea", though expressed as it is, it is understandable, and it would often be said that way.