2020-10-07
151218-3 ศัพท์ น่าสับสน ชุด H - Hardly & scarcely & barely
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Dictionary.com
ออกเสียง hardly = ‘HAHRD-lee’
ออกเสียง scarcely = ‘SKAIRS-lee’
ออกเสียง bearly = ‘BAIR-lee
Dictionary.com
SYNONYM STUDY FOR HARDLY
Hardly, barely, scarcely
imply a narrow margin by which performance was, is, or will be achieved.
Hardly, though often interchangeablewith scarcely and barely,
usually emphasizes the idea of the difficulty involved:
We could hardly endure the winter.
Barely emphasizes the narrowness of the margin of safety, “only just and no more”:
We barely succeeded.
Scarcely implies a very narrow margin, below satisfactory performance:
He can scarcely read.
USAGE NOTE FOR HARDLY
Hardly, barely, and scarcely
all have a negative connotation, and the use ofany of them with a negative like can't or couldn't is often condemned as a double negative
and thus considered nonstandard:
I can't hardly wait.
Such constructions do occur occasionally in the speech of educated persons,
often with jocular intent ( You can't hardly get that kind any more )
but are not found in formal speech or writing.
When hardly in the sense “only just, almost not” is followed by a clause,
the usual word to introduce the clause is when:
The telephone had hardly stopped ringing when (not than ) the doorbell rang.
.
COLLINS ENGLISH DICTIONARY
USAGE FOR HARDLY
Since hardly, scarcely, and barely already have negative force,
it is redundant to use another negative in the same clause:
“he had hardly had (not he hadn't hardly had) time to think; there was scarcely any (not scarcely no) bread left”
“there was scarcely any (not scarcely no) bread left; he had hardly had (not he hadn't hardly had) time to think”
Collins COBUILD English Usage
Hard – hardly
1. 'hard'
Hard can be an adjective. If something is hard, it is not easy to do.
Coping with three babies is very hard work.
Hard can also be an adverb.
For example, if you work hard, you work with a lot of effort.
Many elderly people have worked hard all their lives.
2. 'hardly'
Hardly is an adverb. It has a totally different meaning from hard.
You use hardly to modify a statement when you want to emphasize that only a small amount or detail makes it true, and it is best to consider the opposite as true.
For example, if someone hardly speaks, they do not speak much.
If something is hardly surprising, it is not very surprising.
I hardly knew him.
Nick hardly slept because he was so worried.
If you use an auxiliary verb or modal with hardly, you put the auxiliary verb or modal first.
You say, for example, 'I can hardly see'. Don't say 'I hardly can see'.
Two years before, the wall had hardly existed.
She can hardly wait to begin.
We could hardly move.
Be Careful!
Don't use 'not' with hardly.
Don't say, for example, 'I did not hardly know him'.
Say 'I hardly knew him'.
Hardly is sometimes used in longer structures to say that one thing happened immediately after another.
The local police had hardly finished their search when the detectives arrived.
Be Careful!
In structures like these you use when, not 'than'.
Don't say, for example, 'The local police had hardly finished their search than the detectives arrived'.
In stories, hardly is sometimes put at the beginning of a sentence, followed by had or the verb be and the subject.
Hardly had he uttered the words when he began laughing.
3. 'hardly ever'
If something hardly ever happens, it almost never happens.
I hardly ever spoke to them.
Tim hardly ever met her friends.
Abused, Confused, & Misused Words by Mary Embree
barely
hardly; only just; almost not:
She barely made it to work on time.;
scantily: She’s barely clothed.; sparsely
Not to be confused with:
barley – a grain used as food and in making beer, ale, and whiskey
Collins COBUILD English Usage
Bare – barely
1. 'bare'
Bare is an adjective. If something is bare, it is not covered or decorated with anything.
The room has bare wooden floors.
If a part of the body is bare, it has no clothing.
Meg's feet were bare.
2. 'barely'
Barely is an adverb. It has a totally different meaning from bare.
You use barely to say that something is only just true or possible.
For example, if you can barely do something, you can only just do it.
If something is barely noticeable, you can only just notice it.
It was so dark we could barely see.
His whisper was barely audible.
Be Careful!
Don't use 'not' with barely.
Don't say, for example, 'The temperature was not barely above freezing'.
You say 'The temperature was barely above freezing'.
Be Careful!
If you use an auxiliary verb or modal with barely,
you put the auxiliary verb or modal first.
You say, for example, 'He can barely read'. Don't say 'He barely can read'.
The audience could barely hear him.
You can use barely to say that one thing happened immediately after another.
For example, you can say 'We had barely started the meal when Jane arrived'.
Be Careful!
You use when or before after barely.
Don't use 'than'.
Don't say, for example, 'We had barely started the meal than Jane arrived'.
I had barely arrived before he led me to the interview room.
They had barely sat down when they were told to leave.
Collins COBUILD English Usage
scarce – scarcely
Both scarce and scarcely are fairly formal words.
They have completely different meanings.
1. 'scarce'
Scarce is an adjective. If something is scarce, very little of it is available.
Good quality land is scarce.
The desert is a place where water is scarce.
2. 'rare'
Don't use 'scarce' to say that something is not common, and is therefore interesting. Use rare.
This flower is so rare that few botanists have ever seen it.
Deepak's hobby is collecting rare books.
3. 'scarcely'
Scarcely is an adverb that means the same as 'hardly'.
If something is scarcely true, it is almost not true.
If something scarcely exists, it almost does not exist.
The smell was so bad I could scarcely bear it.
The woman was scarcely able to walk.
Be Careful!
Don't use 'not' with scarcely.
Don't say, for example, 'I do not scarcely have enough money to live'.
Say 'I scarcely have enough money to live'.
If you use an auxiliary verb or modal with scarcely,
put the auxiliary verb or modal first.
Say, for example, 'I could scarcely stand'.
Don't say 'I scarcely could stand'.
I can scarcely remember what we ate.
He could scarcely be blamed for his reaction.
Scarcely is sometimes used to emphasize that one thing happened immediately after another.
We had scarcely arrived when it was time to leave again.
Be Careful!
Use when, not 'than', in sentences like these.
Don't say, for example, 'We had scarcely arrived than it was time to leave again'.
In literary writing, scarcely is sometimes put at the beginning of a sentence, followed by had or the verb be and the subject.
Scarcely had she put down the receiver when the phone rang again.
Scarcely were the words spoken when he began to regret them.
Merriam-Webster Dictionary
Usage Guide
Can hardly be used with a negative?:
Hardly in sense 5 is used sometimes with not for emphasis.
just another day at the office? Not hardly In sense 4b with a negative verb
(such as can't, wouldn't, didn't)
it does not make a double negative but softensthe negative.
In "you can't hardly find a red one," the sense is that you can find a red one, but only with difficulty; in "you can't find a red one," the sense is that red ones are simply not available.
Use of hardly with a negative verb is a speech form; it is most commonly heard in Southern and Midland speech areas.
In other speech areas and in all discursive prose, hardly is normally used with a positive. you can hardly find a red one
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language,
Usage Note:
In Standard English,
hardly, scarcely, and similar adverbs cannot be used with a negative.
The sentence I couldn't hardly see him, for instance, is not acceptable.
This violation of the double negative rule is curious because these adverbs are not truly negative in meaning.
Rather, they minimize the state or event they describe.
Thus hardly means "almost not at all," rarely means "practically never," and so forth.
The sentence Mary hardly laughed means that Mary did laugh a little, not that she kept from laughing altogether, and therefore does not express a negative proposition.
But adverbs like hardly and scarcely do share some important features of negative adverbs, even though they may not have purely negative meaning.
For one thing, they combine with any and at all, which are characteristically associated with negative contexts.
Thus we say I hardly saw him at all or I never saw him at all but not I occasionally saw him at all.
Similarly, we say I hardly had any time or I didn't have any time
but not I had any time and so on.
Like other negative adverbs, hardly triggers inversion of the subject and auxiliary verb when it begins a sentence.
Thus we say Hardly had I arrived when she left on the pattern of Never have I read such a book. ·
Hardly and other minimizing adverbs are properly followed by when and not than
in sentences like I had hardly walked inside [when/than] it began to rain.
In our 2008 survey, 79 percent of the Usage Panel rejected the use of than in the previous sentence. See Usage Notes at double negative, rarely, scarcely.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language,
Usage Note:
Scarcely has the force of a negative and is therefore regarded as incorrectly used with another negative,
as in I couldn't scarcely believe it. ·
A clause following scarcely is properly introduced by when or before; the use of than is usually changed by copyeditors:
The meeting had scarcely begun when (or before but not than) it was interrupted.
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary,
syn: hardly, barely, scarcely imply a narrow margin ofsufficiency.
hardly usu. emphasizes the difficulty or sacrifice involved:
We could hardly endure the winter.
barely implies no more than the minimum, as in performance or quantity:
We barely succeeded.
scarcely implies an even narrower margin, usu. below a satisfactory level:
He can scarcely read.
usage: hardly, barely, scarcely all have a negative connotation,
and the use of any of them with a supplementary negative (I can't hardly remember) is characteristic ofdialectical or informal speech rather than edited writing.
Common Errors in English Usage Dictionary
hardly
When Bill says “I can’t hardly bend over with this backache,” he means he can hardly bend over, and that’s what he should say.
Similarly, when Jane says “you can feed the cat without hardly bending over” she means "almost without bending over."
Dictionary of Problem Words and Expression
Hardly & scarcely & barely
These three adverbs imply the doing or accomplishing ofsomething by the narrowest of margins:
“The injured man was hardly (scarcely, barely) able to move his lips.”
What slight difference exists among them is that
hardly suggests difficulty, the hardness of something
(My lungs hurt so much that I could hardly breathe);
Scarcely suggests a margin so small as to be almost unbelievable
(You would scarcely believe he could be so stupid);
and barely stresses the idea of narrowness and thinness.
(He barely passed the examination).
All three words have a negative quality and should not be used with another negative;
do not say “hardly never,” “scarcely never,” “couldn’t hardly,” “wouldn’t scarcely,” and “not barely,”
