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hi everybody my name is Alisha in this
lesson I'm going to talk about some
differences between the words almost and
barely let's get started I want to start
this lesson with the word almost for
this lesson I want to mention both
almost and barely are adverbs so they
have the same grammatical function but
they have kind of opposite we can think
of them as kind of having the opposite
meaning so let's start by talking about
almost and the meaning of almost almost
can mean very nearly but not exactly
it can mean not entirely or not
completely so I think this is best to
explain with some example sentences I'm
going to share some example sentences
that use almost in a couple different
ways let's look at this first sentence I
almost missed my flight I almost missed
my flight so to miss a flight means you
can't catch the flight like you're not
in time for the flight I almost missed
my flight so we know almost means very
nearly or not entirely or not completely
so if we think about it which of these
fits nicely into this sentence I feel
very nearly is a great one to substitute
I very nearly missed my flight I nearly
missed my flight means I caught my
flight so I was very very close I very
nearly did not catch my flight is
another way to say this but we say I
almost missed so that means this action
came very close to happening but it did
not happen let's look at another example
then she almost fell off her bicycle or
she almost fell off of her bicycle it's
also okay
so here the verb is fell off fell off
past tense of fall off so that means she
was riding a bicycle or in this case
fall off fell off refers to riding in
this case a bicycle and like losing
balance so falling to the side
becoming separated from the bicycle so
she almost fell off her bicycle here we
can use the same idea let's substitute
very nearly for almost here she very
nearly fell off her bicycle this means
she did not fall off her bicycle but she
almost or she very nearly did it was
very very close to happening so maybe
she lost her balance on the bicycle but
she fixed it she was able to continue
writing her bicycle so something that
very nearly happened was this this is
the thing that very nearly happened but
it did not exactly happen she almost
fell off so this thing did not happen in
other words okay let's move on to a
different way of using almost this next
sentence almost everyone got a raise so
here we can think of this with very
nearly that works well here or maybe not
entirely that's another good one or not
completely like all of these can fit
well in this sentence to substitute
almost everyone very nearly everyone got
a raise so that means not everyone but
very close to everyone so if there are
100 people in your company maybe that
means 95 people got a raise so very
close to everyone very close to all
people got a raise so not everyone not
everything so not entirely everyone not
completely everyone but very nearly
everyone got a raise all right now let's
look at maybe the most challenging
example sentence here let's
read it first we almost didn't make it
to the conference we almost didn't make
it to the conference so in this sentence
if we if we remove the word almost here
we didn't make it to the conference it
means we were not able to get to the
conference we couldn't make it in time
for the conference however if we include
almost that means we very nearly didn't
make it to the conference that shows we
were able to it was maybe difficult but
we were able to actually make it to the
conference okay
let's move along to one more a common
one perhaps you almost forgot your
wallet you almost forgot your wallet
again you very nearly forgot your wallet
so we can compare the same thing we did
in this sentence removing almost you
forgot your wallet means the wallet was
left behind like you don't have your
wallet however you almost forgot your
wallet
it's imagine someone is running out the
door to go to work and their roommate or
their spouse shouts this you almost
forgot your wallet here you very nearly
left the house without your wallet here
it is so this expression almost this
word shows things that were very close
to happening but they did not happen so
we see that a lot when we have almost in
front of a verb like in these example
sentences here where we have it in front
of a group of people for example it
shows us not entirely as the meaning
okay so let's compare this to barely
now I mentioned almost in barely are
kind of like opposites a little bit so
again barely is an adverb barely means
only just
it can mean scarcely hardly it can also
mean nothing to spare I'll show some
examples of this so we can think about
barely like almost not something so
let's compare some example sentences
here first one I barely made my flight
connection I barely made my flight
connection so here we see barely
before our verb made so to make a flight
to make a flight or to make a flight
connection in this case means to be on
time to be able to go through the
airport and catch your flight in time so
I barely made my flight connection we
can substitute these words again as we
did with almost I only just made my
flight connection so I made my flight
connection with nothing to spare or no
time to spare
so this barely shows us something was
really difficult but I did it so this
did happen I barely made my flight
connection the next example sentence she
barely fit into the truck
so imagine fit into like imagine someone
is moving to a new house a truck is full
of boxes and all kinds of objects from
someone's house so the truck is really
really full she might say or someone
might say she barely fit into like her
body barely fit into the truck because
it was so full so barely again we can
substitute with only just she barely or
she only just fit into the truck means
she was able to fit into the truck she
did it it was possible okay let's look
at another one he was barely able to get
tickets to the concert he was barely
able to get tickets to the concert again
he was only just able to get tickets to
the concert so that means maybe it was
difficult to do this there were maybe
just a few tickets left and he purchased
the tickets in time like before they
were all sold out so he was barely able
that means this was possible he achieved
this thing okay
let's look now at the next example
barely anyone came to the conference so
this one is going to be a little bit
different
we can't substitute only just in this
case in this case in a sample sentence
like this let's substitute hardly for
this one hardly anyone came to the
conference that
almost no people came to the conference
so barely anyone shows us the turnout or
the number of participants was very very
low for the conference so this does not
mean only just it means very few or
hardly all right let's move along to the
last one
we barely had enough time to finish our
project we barely had enough time this
is a common expression we barely had
enough time to do something so this
shows us again we barely had enough time
shows us that there was nothing to spare
so when we use it with an expression
like time it tends to be associated it
tends to relate to this nothing to spare
idea
meaning no time to spare no time to
waste everything must be used
efficiently so we barely had enough time
to finish our project means we finished
the project but it was really really
close so we almost didn't have enough
time to finish the project so I've done
this a couple times throughout the
lesson but actually there are some cases
where we can kind of swap we can kind of
exchange these two words and make like
the opposite version of a sentence so
the first example sentence is a great
example I almost missed my flight and I
barely made my flight or it barely made
my flight connection these mean the same
thing they're just different ways of
saying it you'll notice with the verb
almost I almost missed this is kind of a
negative nuance I almost didn't catch my
flight it almost didn't happen here it's
a more positive sounding verb I barely
made my flight it was very close to not
happening but I did it so when you use
barely you can think of this like I said
kind of like the opposite of almost
these are actions when we use it with
verbs that we're very close to not
happening but it did happen over here a
reminder almost is used for things that
were very close to happening but did not
happen there's another example I want to
show you here
from this one barely anyone came to the
conference I've used this here barely
anyone came to the conference with this
negative remember we use like some and
any with negatives and positives here
I've used barely anyone came to the
conference over here
I used almost everyone in this one so
you'll notice that when we're using this
kind of positive expression almost
everyone will use something like this
everyone or everybody however this one
will use anyone with or anybody barely
anybody it's a more negative expression
so we don't use barely everybody or
barely everyone please use barely anyone
here okay so this is a quick
introduction I think to a few different
ways that you can use barely and almost
and the basic differences between these
two if you have any questions or
comments or want to practice making some
sentences with this information please
feel free to do so in the comment
section of this video of course if you
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watching this lesson and I will see you
again soon
my
you
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