Discussion
In the sentence below, a part is printed in bold. Choose the alternative that best replaces it. If no improvement is needed, choose ‘No correction required’.
Hardly anyone attended the meeting despite the reminders.
Answer: E
Correct answer: No correction required
The sentence is correct. Hardly is itself a negative word, meaning almost not, and it therefore takes anyone rather than someone. Substituting no one would produce a double negative - hardly no one attended - which in standard English cancels itself and states the opposite of what is meant. The words that carry this hidden negative force are worth learning as a group, because they all reject a second negative: hardly, scarcely, barely, seldom, rarely, little and few. So I can hardly see anything, never hardly see nothing. The same objection defeats without no help, I did not do nothing and neither of them did not come. Note that these words also invert the subject and auxiliary when placed at the head of a sentence - hardly did anyone attend - though the ordinary order used here needs no inversion.
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