nearly vs almost. 兩者有無區別？

nearly vs almost

問：nearly 與almost 都作“幾乎”、“差不多”解, 不知它們之間有無區別。

答：當nearly 作“ 幾乎”、“差不多”解時, 可與almost 通用。下列各句中的nearly 都可用almost 來替換, 但是, almost 所表示的接近程度大於nearly:

1. It was nearly dark… 天幾乎黑了⋯⋯
2. She was nearly as tall as he was. 她差不多跟他一般高。
3. The ball struck him so hard that he nearly fell into water. 球重重地擊在他身上, 他差點兒掉進河裡去。

但是, 要注意, nearly 絕不可與never, no, nobody, nothing, none, nowhere 等否定詞連用。在這種情況下只能使用almost :

1. She said almost nothing. 她幾乎什麼也沒說。
2. I almost never see her. 我幾乎總看不到她。
3. Almost no one believed her.  幾乎沒有一個人相信她。

另一方面, 可以說not nearly, 但不可以說not almost, 見not nearly 。

亦請參考nearly 用法。