5. Hardly, scarcely, barely

hardly, scarcely and barely are almost negative in meaning. hardly is chiefly used with any, ever, at all or the verb can:

He has hardly any money, (very little money)

/ hardly ever go out. (I very seldom go out.) It hardly rained at all last summer.

Her case is so heavy that she can hardly lift it. But it can also be used with other verbs:

/ hardly know him. (I know him only very slightly.) Be careful not to confuse the adverbs hard and hardly:

He looked hard at it. (He stared at it.)

He hardly looked at it. (He gave it only a brief glance.) scarcely can mean 'almost not' and could replace hardly

as used above: scarcely any/scarcely ever etc. But scarcely is chiefly used to mean 'not quite':

There were scarcely twenty people there, (probably fewer) (For hardly/scarcely with inversion, see 45 and 342 E.) barely means 'not more than/only just':

There were barely twenty people there, (only just twenty)

/ can barely see it. (I can only just see it.) Inversion of the verb

42. Inversionoftheverbaftercertain adverbs

Certain adverbs and adverb phrases, mostlywitharestrictiveornegativesense,can foremphasisbe placed first in a sentence or clause and are then followed by theinverted (i.e.interrogative)form of theverb.Themost importantof these are shown below. Thenumbersindicate paragraphs where anexamplewill be found.

hardly ever (see 38 A, C) on no account hardly . . . when (342 E) only by

in no circumstances only in this way

neither/nor (112 D) only then/when

never scarcely ever

no sooner . . . than (342 E) scarcely . . . when not only seldom

not till so (112 A)

nowhere (36 B)

/ haven't got a ticket. ~ Neither/Nor have I. 1 had never before been asked to accept a bribe. Never before had I been asked to accept a bribe. They not only rob you, they smash everything too. Not only do they rob you, they smash everything too. He didn 't realize that he had lost it till he got home. Not till he got home did he realize that he had lost it. This switch must not be touched on any account. On no account must this switch be touched.

He was able to make himself heard only by shouting. Only by shouting was he able to make himself heard. He became so suspicious that. . . So suspicious did he become that. . .

Notealsothat a secondnegativeverbin asentencecansometimesbe expressed by nor with inversion:

He had no money and didn't know anyone he could borrow from. He had no money, nor did he know anyone he could borrow from. (neither would be less usual here.)

(For adverbs and adverb phrases followed by inversion of verb and noun subject, e.g. Up went the rocket; By the door stood an armed guard, see 36 C, E, F.)

1. 5 All, each, every, both, neither, either, some, any, no, none

46. all, each, every, everyone, everybody, everything (for all and each, see also 48) A all compared to every

Technically,all meansanumberofpeopleorthingsconsideredas a groupwhile every meansanumberof peopleorthingsconsideredindividually.But in practice every anditscompoundsareoftenused when we are thinkingof a group.

2. each (adjective and pronoun) and every (adjective)

each meansanumberof persons orthingsconsideredindividually. every can havethismeaningbut withevery there is lessemphasison theindividual.

Every man had a weapon means 'All the men had weapons', and implies that the speaker counted the men and the weapons and found that he had the same number of each. Each man had a weapon implies that the speaker went to each man in turn and checked that he had a weapon. each is a pronoun and adjective: Each (man) knows what to do.

every is an adjective only: Every man knows . . .

each can be used oftwoormorepersons orthings,andisnormally used ofsmall numbers,every isnot normally used of very small numbers.

Both takeasingularverb. Thepossessiveadjectiveishis/her/its.

(For the reciprocal pronoun each other, see 53 C, 70 B.)

2. everyone/everybody and everything (pronouns)

everyone/everybody + singular verb is normally preferred to all (the) people + plural verb, i.e. we say Everyone is ready instead of All the people are ready. There is no difference between everyone and everybody. everything is similarly preferred to all (the) things, i.e. we say Everything has been wasted instead of All the things have been wasted. The expressions all (the) people, all (the) things are possible when followed by a phrase or clause:

All the people in the room clapped.

I got all the things you asked for. Otherwise they are rarely used.

(For pronouns and possessive adjectives with everyone/everybody, see 51 C, 69.)

1. both

both means'oneandtheother'.It takesapluralverb.both can be usedaloneorfollowedby a noun:

Both (doors) were open or by (of) + the/these/those or possessives: both (of) the wheels both (of) your wheels or by of + us/you/them: Both of us knew him. A personal pronoun + both is also possible:

We both knew him. (See 48.)

both . . .and ., . . can be usedto emphasizeacombinationoftwoadjectives,nouns, verbsetc.:

It was both cold and wet.

He is both an actor and a director. He both acts and directs.

46. all/both/each + of and alternative constructions

    1. all (pronoun) can be followed by of + the/this/these/that/those/

possessivesand proper nouns.

both (pronoun) + of can be usedsimilarly but withplural formsonly. The of here is oftenomittedespeciallywithall + a singular noun/pronoun.

all the town all (of) Tom's boys all his life both (of) the towns all (of) these both (of) his parents

2. With all/both + of + personal pronoun the of cannot be omitted:

all of it both of them But there is an alternative construction, personal pronoun + all/both:

all of it is replaceable by it all.

all of us = we all (subject), us all (object).

all of you is replaceable by you all.

all of them = they all (subject), them all (object). Similarly:

both of us = we both or us both both of you = you both

both of them = they both or them both

All of them were broken = They were all broken. All/Both of us went = We all/both went.

We ate all/both the cakes. We ate all/both of them. We ate them all/both.

3. When one of these pronoun + all/both combinations is the subject of a compound tense the auxiliary verb usually precedes all/both: We are all waiting. You must both help me.

be is also placed before all/both except when it is used in short answers etc.:

We are all/both ready but

Who is ready? ~ We all are/We both are.

Otherauxiliaries used alone and simpletenses ofordinaryverbsfollow all/both:

You all have maps. They both knew where to go.

D each, like both, can be followed by of + these/those etc. (plural forms only). The of here cannot be omitted:

each of the boys each of these each of us/you/them can, however, be replaced by pronoun + each:

each of you = you each

each of us = we each (subject), us each (indirect object)

each of them = they each (subject), them each (indirect object)

We each sent in a report.

They gave us each a form to fill in. Note that each of us/you/them is singular:

Each of us has a map. But we/you/they each is plural:

We each have a map.

Verbs used with we/you/they each follow the patterns given in C above for all and both:

They have each been questioned.