2021-01-06 ศัพท์ น่าสับสน ชุด S – Scarce & scarcely

2021-01-06 Ref.: www.gotoknow.org#

ศัพท์ น่าสับสน ชุด S – Scarce & scarcely

แนะนำการใช้ ตามที่ส่วนใหญ่ใช้ แต่ละท้องถิ่น

ความหมาย อาจผันแปร ตาม ตำแหน่ง/หน้าที่ ในประโยค

Dictionary.com

ออกเสียง Scarce  = ‘SKAIRS’

ออกเสียง scarcely =’SKAIRS-lee’

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

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.

Dictionary of Problem Words and Expression

Scarce & scarcely

Although scarce can be used as an adverb(scarce more than a bare living),

its greatest use in contemporary speech and writing

is that of an adjective meaning “infrequentlyfound or seen,”

“insufficient,” “not plentiful”:

“Pretty woman are scarce in this town.”

Scarcely is an adverb meaning “barely,”

“by a small margin,” “just”:

“He could scarcely breathe under the heavy covers.”

Scarcely has a negative sense

and should not be used with another negative;

avoid such expressions as “didn’t scarcely,” “couldn’t scarcely,”

and “without scarcely.”

See also DOUBLE NEGATIVE and HARDLY.