① scarcely指數(shù)量,強(qiáng)調(diào)數(shù)量不足。rarely表示“很少”,相當(dāng)于very seldom,是頻率副詞。hardly指程度,強(qiáng)調(diào)困難極大。另外,scarcely不是頻率副詞,與rarely性質(zhì)不同,必須加ever才可作頻率副詞使用。scarcely ever意為“幾乎從未”,相當(dāng)于hardly ever。
She could hardly walk any farther. 她幾乎走不動(dòng)了。
He spoke scarcely a word of English. 他幾乎一句英語(yǔ)都不會(huì)說(shuō)。
He scarcely comes to see me.
He scarcely/hardly ever comes to see me.
他幾乎不來(lái)看我。
He rarely/seldom comes to see me. 他很少來(lái)看我。
② scarcely和hardly與before或when連用,結(jié)構(gòu)為:主語(yǔ)+had scarcely/hardly+過(guò)去分詞+before/when從句,表示“一……就”。
我一完工他就來(lái)了。
I had scarcely/hardly finished my work when he came.
提示
scarcely,hardly,no sooner位于句首時(shí),要用倒裝結(jié)構(gòu)。
Scarcely/Hardly had we arrived before we had to go back. 我們剛一到就又得趕回來(lái)。