2020-12-17
ศัพท์ น่าสับสน ชุด R – rare & rarely & scarce
แนะนำการใช้ ตามที่ส่วนใหญ่ใช้ แต่ละท้องถิ่น
ความหมาย อาจผันแปร ตาม ตำแหน่ง/หน้าที่ ในประโยค
Dictionary.com
ออกเสียง Rare = ‘RAIR’
ออกเสียง rarely = ‘RAIR-lee’
ออกเสียง scarce = ‘SKAIRS’
Merriam-Webster Dictionary
Choose the Right Synonym for rare
Adjective (1)
CHOICE, EXQUISITE, ELEGANT, RARE, DELICATE, DAINTY
mean having qualities that appeal to a cultivated taste.
CHOICE stresses preeminence in quality or kind. choice fabric
EXQUISITE implies a perfection in workmanship or design that appeals only to very sensitive taste. an exquisite gold bracelet
ELEGANT applies to what is rich and luxurious but restrained by good taste. a sumptuous but elegant dining room
RARE suggests an uncommon excellence. rare beauty
DELICATE implies exquisiteness, subtlety, and fragility.
delicate craftsmanship
DAINTY sometimes carries an additional suggestion of smallness and of appeal to the eye or palate. dainty sandwiches
INFREQUENT, UNCOMMON, SCARCE, RARE, SPORADIC
mean not common or abundant.
INFREQUENT implies occurrence at wide intervals in space or time. infrequent family visits
UNCOMMON suggests a frequency below normal expectation. smallpox is now uncommon in many countries
SCARCE implies falling short of a standard or required abundance. jobs were scarce during the Depression
RARE suggests extreme scarcity or infrequency and often implies consequent high value. rare first editions
SPORADIC implies occurrence in scattered instances or isolated outbursts. sporadic cases of influenza
Merriam-Webster Dictionary
Choose the Right Synonym for scarce
Adjective
INFREQUENT, UNCOMMON, SCARCE, RARE, SPORADIC
mean not common or abundant.
INFREQUENT implies occurrence at wide intervals in space or time. infrequent family visits
UNCOMMON suggests a frequency below normal expectation. smallpox is now uncommon in many countries
SCARCE implies falling short of a standard or required abundance. jobs were scarce during the Depression
RARE suggests extreme scarcity or infrequency and often implies consequent high value. rare first editions
SPORADIC implies occurrence in scattered instances or isolated outbursts. sporadic cases of influenza
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language,
Usage Note:
The use of ever after adverbssuch as rarely, seldom, hardly, and scarcely
has often been criticized as redundant, and not without reason.
The sentence She rarely ever watches television expresses nothing that is not conveyed by She rarely watches television.
While these constructions occur frequently in speech today,
in print they are not used at similar rates.
For some reason, both historically and in contemporary published prose,
rarely ever and seldom ever are not very common,
perhaps because rarely and seldom are
more immediately associated with time
than hardly, scarcely, and otherminimizing adverbs are,
and so the overlap with ever is more obvious.
In any case, scarcely ever has a long and
distinguished track record of use by admired writers,
and appears with some frequency in contemporary prose:
"The cold air of the fall morning had blown in through the rusted seams of the sort of vehicle that nobody in her family ever rode in, that scarcely ever appeared on the streets where she lived" (Alice Munro).
Similarly, the construction hardly ever also has a long history of use by distinguished writers, including modern ones:
"When he was dead I realized that I had hardly ever spoken to him" (James Baldwin).
It seems then that scarcely ever and hardly ever,
though technically redundant, are valued fortheir emphatic expressiveness,
while rarely ever and seldom ever have not won such favor.
They are therefore best avoided.
See Usage Note at hardly.
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 modalwith 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.
Dictionary of Problem Words and Expression
Rare & scarce
Each of these words describes
what is in short supply,” “infrequent,” “hard to find,” “uncommon”:
“Gasoline and butter were rare (or scarce) during the war.”
Rare is usually applied to items of qualityand value,
the worth of which is increased by permanent infrequency:
“Diamonds are rare and precious forms of carbon.”
“Growing plants were rare in the dust bowl.”
Scarce is normally applied to everyday
or ordinary items or occurrence:
“Our milk supply is scarce, but we have enough to last until tomorrow.”
A rare book is valuable because of its age or importance
or because only one or a few copies exist anywhere;
a scarce book is one in short supplyat a particular source
(such as a library)
but one of which numerous copies may be available elsewhere.
Dictionary of Problem Words and Expression
Rarely & rarely ever
Rarely means “seldom,” “infrequently,” “not often”:
“She rarely goes to the movies.”
The phrase “rarely ever” is wordy, unidiomatic, and illogical.
Instead of saying “She rarely ever sings,”
say “She rarely sings” or “She hardly ever sings”
or “She sings rarely, if ever” or “She sings rarely or never.”
