[Vocabulary] hardly be other than grateful

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Silverobama

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Hi,

What does the sentence mean "She can hardly be other than grateful"? Does it mean "She can only be grateful"? If so, is the sentence idiomatic?
 

philo2009

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Yes, that is exactly what it means.

It is a rather formal circumlocution.
 

BobK

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:up: And some people try to attenuate the formality by adding an 'anything' (which makes 'other' into an adjective).

b
 
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