101 almost, nearly和hardly
1 almost 意为“几乎，差不多”，后面常跟any, no, never, none, nothing, nobody, every, everybody, everything，还常跟数词，但almost 不可与not连用。
He had almost nothing to do that day. 那天他几乎没有什么事做。
Almost every student has come. 几乎每个学生都到了。
The watch cost me almost 20 yuan. 这块表差不多花了我20元。
It is almost too much. 这简直太过分了。
She had almost no money. （正）她几乎没有钱了 。
She had almost not money. （误）
2 almost 还可以表示“差一点”，修饰动词、形容词或名词。
I almost fell off my bike. 我差一点儿从自行车上摔下来。
The car almost knocked the tree down. 汽车差点儿把那棵树撞倒。
She almost passed the maths exam. 她差一点就通过数学考试了。（但没通过 ）
She is almost top of the match. 她差一点就是这场比赛的冠军。
3 nearly 也表示“几乎，差不多”，语气比almost 弱，nearly 不可同any, no, never, none, nothing, nobody, every, everybody, everything连用，但修饰时间词、数量词和年龄词时，用almost 和nearly 都可以。在not, pretty, very之后，只能用nearly 。
修饰时间词：
It is nearly six o'clock. （正）快6点了 。
It is almost six o'clock. （正）
修饰数量词：
He has nearly 500 yuan . （正）他差不多有500元 。
He has almost 500 yuan . （正）
修饰年龄词：
She is nearly fifteen years old. （正）她快要15岁了 。
She is almost fifteen years old. （正）
They are not nearly ready. （正）他们还远没有准备好 。
They are not almost ready. （误） （almost不可与not连用 ）
I have nearly nothing to say. （误）
I have almost nothing to say. （正）我几乎没有什么可说 。
I have nearly never seen such a thing. （误）
I have almost never seen such a thing. （正）我几乎从未见过这样的事 。
4 almost 表示的距离比nearly更近一些，相当于very nearly。
It is nearly supper time. 快吃晚饭了 。
It is almost supper time. 马上就要吃晚饭了 。
提示
在不能比较和衡量的情况下，可用almost，但不可用nearly。
The tiger is almost human. （正）这只老虎通人性。
The tiger is nearly human. （误）
5 hardly 意为“几乎不”，表示否定意义，因此所在句中的谓语动词要用肯定式，反意疑问句中的附加问句也要用肯定式。hardly 常同any连用，但不可同no, nothing, nobody等否定词连用。
比较不同的结构：
hardly any+复数名词或不可数名词
almost+no+复数名词或不可数名词
hardly a +单数名词
almost no+单数名词
I can hardly hear you. 我几乎听不见你讲话。
I can hardly see who he is. 我几乎看不清他是谁。
He hardly believes it, does he ? （正）他几乎不相信这个，是吗？
He hardly believes it, doesn't he ? （误）
There are hardly any books on the shelf. 书架上几乎没有书了 。
There are almost no books on the shelf.
I have hardly any money with me. 我身上几乎没有钱了 。
I have almost no money with me.
There is hardly a cloud in the sky. 天空中几乎没有一片云 。
There is almost no cloud in the sky.
