Hardly, Scarcely, Rarely, Seldom and Never are those words that have negative meaning.
Meaning of “hardly” as an adverb is “only just, almost not, or certainly not.” When you use “hardly” as an adverb, use it before or after a verb.
Example-
She has (verb) hardly eaten anything since morning. (it means she has almost not eaten anything since morning)
He hardly travels (verb) by train. (It means he never or almost not travels by train)
You can replace hardly with scarcely, rarely, seldom or never. The meaning will remain the same.
Example –
She has seldom eaten anything since morning.
He rarely travelled by train.
Subject Verb Agreement of Hardly, Scarcely, Rarely, Seldom and Never
When you start a sentence with hardly, scarcely, rarely, seldom and never, you should use inversion in sentences. It means, verbs are used before subjects. And you should put a verb according to the number of the subject.
Example –
Hardly does he go to school. (it means, she never goes to school)
(Here the sentence starts with “Hardly” therefore the verb “does” is before the subject (he) and the subject (he) is singular, so we use “does”)
Hardly do they come here.
(Here the sentence starts with “hardly” therefore the verb “do” is before the subject (they) and the subject (they) is plural, so we use “do”)
Hardly When use in Sentences
Here hardly is used at the starting of the sentence. You will use past perfect tense and don’t use comma.
Sentence structure will be –
Hardly had I entered the home when the rain started. (it means, I was about to enter the home, the rain had started)
Scarcely had I reached the station when the train arrived.
Some Hardly exercises to practice free-
Results
