Question
Consider the following sentences: (i) After his surgery. Raja hardly could walk. (ii) After his surgery. Raja could barely walk. (iii) After his surgery. Raja barely could walk. (iv) After his surgery. Raja could hardly walk. Which of the above sentences are grammatically CORRECT?
Options :
(iii) and (iv)
(i) and (ii)
(i) and (iii)
(ii) and (iv)
Answer :
(ii) and (iv)
Solution :
Hardly/barely is an adverb that means “almost none”.
Hardly/barely used, especially after ‘can’ and ‘could’ and before the main verb to emphasize that something is difficult to do:
so After his surgery, Raja could hardly/barely walk, which is grammatically correct.
Hence sentence (ii) and (iv) is correct
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