hardly，scarcely和barely这三个词在意义上都接近于否定。
hardly 主要与any，ever，at all或动词can连用：
He has hadly any money.
他几乎没有钱。(非常少)
I hardly ever go out.
我很少外出。(我极少外出。)
It hadly rained at all last summer.
去年夏天没怎么下雨。
Her case is so heavy that she can hadly lift it.
她的箱子太重了，她简直提不起来。
也可以和其他动词连用：
I hardly know him.
我不太认识他。(我只是与他认识而已。)
注意不要把副词hard与hardly搞混：
He looked hard at it.
他使劲地盯着它看。(他在盯着它。)
He hardly looked at it.
他几乎没看它。(他瞄了它一眼。)
scarcely意为“几乎不”，它可以代替hardly。上述例句中也可用scarcely any/scarcely ever等。
但scarcely主要意为“不到”、“不足”：
There were scarcely twenty people there.
那儿连20个人都没有。
(关于hardly/scarcely之后的倒装语序，见第45节与第342节E。)
barely意为“不超过”、“仅仅”：
There were barely twenty people there.
那儿不超过20个人。(刚刚20个)
I can barely see it.
我勉强看得见它。(我只能看见而已。)
