Master confusing words with ease
Hardly than vs. Hardly when
Hardly than
/ˈhɑːrdli ðæn/Examples:
She had hardly taken a seat than the meeting began.He had hardly left the room than she burst into tears.Hardly had she spoken than her phone rang again.
Synonyms:
This word has no synonymsAntonyms:
This word has no antonymsHardly when
/ˈhɑrd.li wɛn/Examples:
I had hardly settled when the phone rang.She had hardly arrived when it started to rain.We had hardly begun when they called us back.
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
Ways to tell them apart:
- Hardly than is not a correct phrase in English, so it should generally be avoided in writing.
- Hardly when is often used in conjunction with hardly to describe a situation that happens immediately after another event has occurred.
- Hardly when is used as a correlative conjunction phrase, often appearing as hardly had [subject] done [something] when...
- Remember that hardly is used to express difficulty or something happening infrequently or not at all.
- The combination of hardly with when can help signal a rapid succession of events.
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