hard

hard, hardly

1. The normal adverb from hard is hard, as in They are working hard and Don't hit it so hard. Hardly has a special use, meaning ‘scarcely’ (as in We hardly know them) and ‘only with difficulty’ (as in She could hardly speak).

2. hardly…when…and hardly…than…

The standard construction is hardly…when…:

• Hardly had the two children been freed when they [sc. a rescue team] were on the spot, having covered the ground in a snow-tractor —Country Life, 1971.

The construction with than, though increasingly common and perhaps suggested by the analogy of no sooner…than…, is non-standard:

• ☒ Hardly had the chalky jet stream dissipated above the horizon than it was time for another jetaway get-away to points west —American Square Dance, 1991.

3. can't hardly.

Since hardly already has a negative or restricting force, use of another negative (as in I can't hardly believe it) is incorrect:

• ☒ Mom just loaded us with fried chicken and I can't hardly walk —New Yorker, 1988

• ☒ No, Swedon can't write anything. He can't hardly write his own pawn-tickets —Penelope Fitzgerald, 1990.