Literally just checking in

Over at Literal-Minded, Neal asks

Does literally have to scope over the entire sentence that it’s part of, or are we cool as long as it’s highlighting some part of the sentence as the literal truth?

He provides a couple of examples for us to judge. It seems he believes highlighting is OK.

My view: I agree. The target sense can be, and often is, localized to one part of the claim.

If you care to read more of my take on this, just take a stroll down memory lane.