almost与nearly的语法区别
(1)两者都可用来修饰不定代词、形容词、副词、动词、介词短语等，此时两者常可换用：
It's almost [nearly] impossible. 那几乎是不可能的。
He almost [nearly] always arrives late. 他差不多总是迟到。
The girl nearly(almost)fainted. 这姑娘差点(几乎)晕倒了。
They have almost [nearly] run out of food. 他们的食品几乎(差不多)已经吃完了。
He went out almost [nearly] every evening. 他几乎(差不多)每天晚上都出去。
It was nearly [almost] five thirty. 几乎已经五点半了。
He fell and almost [nearly] broke his leg. 他摔了一跤，险些摔断了腿。
　　
(2)almost可用于any以及no，none，nobody，nothing，never等否定词之前，但nearly一般不这样用：
Almost any man can do it. 几乎任何人都会做。
Almost no one came to the party. 几乎没有人来参加晚会。
但是，两者都可用在否定动词之前：
He almost [nearly] didn't catch the bus. 他差点没赶上公共汽车。

(3)nearly 前可用 very, pretty, not 等词修饰，但almost之前不能用这些词：
It's not nearly so difficult as you think. 这远不像你想像的那么难。
【注】not nearly 意为“远非”，very [pretty] nearly意为“几乎”，都是习语。

(4)有时 almost 可表示十分相似(但又不完全相同)，此时不用 nearly：
I almost wish I'd stayed at home. 我真有点后悔没在家里呆着。