hardly放在动词前和放在动词后的区别

问题描述

hardly 在下面两个句子中的位置不同：一个放在动词之前，一个放在动词之后，请问它们有何区别？
He hardly ate anything.
He ate hardly anything.

老师答疑

唐老师：

下面两句基本同义，但 hardly 的修饰关系稍有不同：第一句的 hardly 修饰动词ate，第二句的 hardly 修饰不定代词 anything：

He hardly ate anything.（否定谓语）

He ate hardly anything.（否定宾语）

比较下面的句子：

He hardly ate anything.（hardly 修饰 ate；否定谓语）

He didn’t eat anthing.（didn’t 修饰 eat，否定谓语）

He ate nothing.（否定宾语）

肖老师：

谢谢老师！

张老师：

同意唐老师分析，剑桥 English Grammar Today 是这样说的：

When hardly is modifying either the main verb orthe following noun, we can put it directly before the verb or before the nounphrase:

She hardly had any sleep. or She had hardly any sleep.

黎老师：

同意上面两位老师的分析。另外，《外研社、建宏英汉多功能词典》指出：“hardly 通常置于 any , anything , anyone , anybody , at all 等之前”。注意：这里说的是“通常”，不是“必须”。