Using the word 'Only'

Solution 1:

Example 1 seems to be legitimate Indian English, see

Something which Indian English has that is not found in other varieties of English is the use of only and itself to emphasize time and place. It comes from the Hindi word hi and produces sentences like "I was in Toledo only" and "Can we meet tomorrow itself?"

extract from language in India

More discussion on 'only' in Indian English here Dustin Freeman

Example 2 is probably Indian English too. You could say you are concentrating on that task, if you wanted to be better understood by a foreign audience.

Example 3: either is correct, I would think the 2nd is more colloquial

I don't think you be misunderstood with any of these colloquialisms. To me they are colourful additions to the language

Solution 2:

Only is an interesting word in that it can change the meaning of sentence depending on its placement. Take, for example, the sentence I love her. Putting only in all the different places in the sentence changes the meaning completely:

Only I love her: I am the only person that loves her.

I only love her: Love is the only feeling I have for her, nothing else.

I love only her: She is the only person I love.

I love her only: Same as the previous.

Back to the question at hand, I agree with both other posters that #1 is wrong, #2 is correct but awkward, and #3 is correct either way.

I would correct #2 by saying, "I am only doing that" or "I am only working on that." In conversation, I would probably stress it with, "I am only working on that—nothing else."

Solution 3:

I agree with Midhat that #1 is completely wrong and #3 is fine either way. (For #3, answer C is less common and sounds very slightly stilted or overly formal, but still grammatically unobjectionable.)

For #2, I would say, "I am working on that exclusively." Meaning: I am not finished with that task, but I have made it my highest (and only) priority and will work on nothing else until it is finished.