Posted by Natsumi · March 5, 2018 · 1 replies
Hi!
I came across this paragraph which I had to complete with hardly or barely:
"Building a hotel in the treetops is _______ a new idea, but the concept has blossomed; today you’ll find them everywhere from Massachusetts to China."
Hardly is the correct answer, but I don't understand the reason why Barely is not correct as the dictionary says that hardly and barely are synomyms.
Thank you in advance for your help.
Hardly means "almost not" and is always negative in implication. So for example : I could hardly see anything = I could see almost nothing
Barely on the other hand means "only a bit" but is often used to emphasise the positive aspect. So : I could barely see anything = I couldn't see much but I could see a bit.
In my examples, there's not much difference in the actual situation. It's more in the speaker's perception. But if you look at your example you'll see that a positive interpretation doesn't work : the writer definitely means that it's not a new idea. It's hardly a new idea but.. = It's not really a new idea but.. You couldn't paraphrase it as "it's a bit of a new idea but...".
Think about the Phil Collins song Another Day in Paradise, which includes the line - She can't walk but she's trying. You'd probably paraphrase that as She can barely walk rather than She can hardly walk... . With the use of barely the emphasis is placed on the fact that she can walk a bit - not much but a bit. So it places the emphasis on the positive aspect and therefore matches the second part of the line but she's trying.
Hope that helps.
Sue
