Yes...
In the sentence "John threw James the ball," John, as the subject, is doing the throwing, and James, as the indirect object, is doing the catching. Their rolls would be reversed if you said "James threw John the ball."
The meanings of these sentences are different, too:
- Only I said hi to Bob this morning.
- I only said hi to Bob this morning.
- I said only hi to Bob this morning.
- I said hi only to Bob this morning.
- I said hi to Bob only this morning.
The first sentence suggests that nobody else said hi to Bob this morning. The second sentence suggests that I did nothing else with Bob this morning. The third sentence suggests that I said nothing else to Bob this morning. The fourth sentence suggests that I said hi to nobody else this morning. The fifth sentence suggests that this morning was the only time I said hi to Bob.
