Common Mistakes : Almost

Almost – Adverb

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BAD: I almost have forgotten what she looks like

GOOD: I have almost forgotten what she looks like

BAD: The suitcase almost was too heavy to lift

GOOD: The suitcase was almost too heavy to lift

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BAD: My job takes me almost to every part of the world

GOOD: My job takes me to almost every part of the world

Almost comes immediately before the word it modifies: He was working in Hungary for almost ten years

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DUBIOUS: Outside Japan, almost nobody speaks Japanese

GOOD: Outside Japan, hardly anybody speaks Japanese

Instead of saying almost no/nobody/never etc , it is more usual to say hardly any/anybody/ever etc: ‘It was so early that there was hardly any traffic.’ ‘I hardly ever go to the cinema nowadays

BAD: She almost couldn’t breathe

GOOD: She could hardly breathe

Almost is used with a negative verb when something does actually happen although, at the time, there is a strong possibility that it will not happen: ‘I was feeling so tired that I almost didn’t come.’ The traffic was so heavy that she almost didn’t get here in time

When you mean ‘only a little’ or ‘only with great difficulty’, use hardly : ‘We hardly know each other.’ ‘She was so tired that she could hardly keep her eyes open.’ I can hardly hear myself think