The exam was hard, because he hardly studied!

In many cases, adjectives can be made into adverbs by adding “ly” with the same meaning. For example, strong & strongly both have the same meaning, of course with a different usage. However, hard and hardly have a completely different meaning. Let’s look at these words today.

Hard is an adjective, which has a few different meanings:

  • Yesterday’s exam was hard (difficult).
  • A diamond is very hard (solid/firm).
  • Working in construction is hard work (requires a lot of effort).

Hard is also an adverb, which also has a few different meanings:

  • My student’s work very hard (using a lot of effort).
  • Look! It’s raining hard (with a lot of force).

Hardly is an adverb, which also has a few different meanings, and very much different from hard:

  • I hardly slept last night (I scarcely slept).
  • Joe was in the office all day but he hardly worked (He barely worked).

Let’s compare these two sentences:

  • Joe works hard (This is a positive statement about Joe. He uses his effort when he works).
  • Joe hardly works (This is a negative statement about Joe. He scarcely/barely uses any effort).

So, how about you? Do you work hard, or do you hardly work? Thanks for studying today!


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