I love and hate these questions
 

a student has asked me what's the difference in the usage of 'hardly' and 'seldom.'
:confused2

I'm going with interchangeable

Re: I love and hate these questions
 

I would say 'seldom' is interchangeable with 'hardly ever'. 'Hardly' can be used in several other ways, that do not mean 'seldom', eg: with 'any' as in 'hardly any English people speak Chinese' or meaning 'do not' as in: 'I hardly think that's relevant'
To simplify, I would say 'hardly' means 'almost no' or 'almost not', whereas 'seldom' means 'rarely' or 'hardly ever'
Clear as mud?!

Re: I love and hate these questions
 

the second question was what's the difference between 'accomplish' and 'achieve' ?

She's a Japanese woman and works as an English teacher in Tokyo, but comes to me to verify that I know what I'm doing.

I said that accomplish is generally used with a target or goal.

Achieve is not necessarily associated with a set goal.

:confused: :confused2 :juggle:

Re: I love and hate these questions
 

New question from the same student:

What's the difference between 'in the street' and 'on the street?'

Re: I love and hate these questions
 

Tell her that before you reveal to her the ancient mysteries and subtleties of the English language, she must shave her head and fast for forty days. (And then tell her what you just said is a popular English idiom)

...when I google "accomplish a" most results return 'accomplish a goal' or 'accomplish a task'. Googling 'achieve a' returns a wider range of, er, achievements. You can achive a victory or even a lean and healthy body.

Re: I love and hate these questions
 

Cool! So, I might have been right. I didn't bother to look it up.