[General] Barely/hardly

Status
Not open for further replies.

rihad

New member
Joined
Aug 10, 2013
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Azerbaijani
Home Country
Azerbaijan
Current Location
Azerbaijan
Hi, guys. In this sentence: "If that means barely moving through a full range of motion, or even missing the rep count altogether, that’s ok."

The bolded part implies moving with great effort, difficulty etc, but actually moving through a full range of motion.
The question is, can it also mean hardly moving at all, or moving through only a partial range of motion?
Thanks.
 

emsr2d2

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 28, 2009
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
UK
Hi, guys. In this sentence: "If that means barely moving through a full range of motion, or even missing the rep count altogether, that’s ok."

The bolded part implies moving with great effort, difficulty etc, but actually moving through a full range of motion.
The question is, can it also mean hardly moving at all, or moving through only a partial range of motion?
Thanks.

"Barely moving" is closer to "hardly moving at all" than to "moving only through a partial range of motion".
 

rihad

New member
Joined
Aug 10, 2013
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Azerbaijani
Home Country
Azerbaijan
Current Location
Azerbaijan
"Barely moving" is closer to "hardly moving at all" than to "moving only through a partial range of motion".

emsr2d2, thanks. Are you a native speaker? Another native speaker thinks "barely moving through a full range of motion" still means moving through the full range of motion with great effort, because the "through" part changes the meaning of "barely".
 

5jj

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Oct 14, 2010
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
Czech Republic
Current Location
Czech Republic
Another native speaker thinks "barely moving through a full range of motion" still means moving through the full range of motion with great effort, because the "through" part changes the meaning of "barely".
This other native speaker seems to have a strange idea. 'Through' does not change the meaning of 'barely'. If it did, it would also change the meaning of 'hardly'. As ems correctly said, "'Barely moving' is closer to 'hardly moving at all' than to 'moving only through a partial range of motion'".
 

rihad

New member
Joined
Aug 10, 2013
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Azerbaijani
Home Country
Azerbaijan
Current Location
Azerbaijan
Thanks for clarifying.
 

emsr2d2

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 28, 2009
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
UK
If it said "I barely managed to move through the whole range of motion" then I might be persuaded to think that the person successfully moved through the whole range of motion but found it incredibly difficult - they barely managed it but they managed it.

And yes, I'm a native speaker. If you click on the words "Member Info" to the right of any user's picture, you will see a small amount of information, including their native language.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top