Hardly // inversion?

Question

1. (written) Hardly had she spoken than she regretted it bitterly.

Q1) I think 'She had hardly spoken than she regretted it bitterly' is the sentence before 'hardly' is inverted, doesn't it?

Q1-1) Is 'hardly' inverted to emphasise her act of not almost speaking?

2. Hardly a day goes by without my thinking of her.

Q2) I think 'A day hardly goes by without my thinking of her' is the sentence before 'hardly' is inverted, doesn't it?

Q2-1) My dictionary does not put 'written' at the beginning of #2.

Then what's the point of inversion here? and why?

Englishmann · Accepted Answer

moon72961. (written) Hardly had she spoken than she regretted it bitterly.

Q1) I think 'She had hardly spoken than she regretted it bitterly' is the sentence before 'hardly' is inverted, doesn't it?
Q1-1) Is 'hardly' inverted to emphasise her act of not almost speaking? NO WAY.

Then what's the point of inversion here? and why?

"Hardly" is almost always paired with "when", not with " than".

Therefore, the sentence should sound " Hardly had she spoken WHEN she regretted it bitterly"

On the other hand, there are some other fixed pairs, just as " hardly- when":

These are : "scarcely- when" and " no sooner-than"

The role of this inversion is to point out an action quickly followed by another one. ( the consecutiveness of the action is instant)

Moon7296 · Answer

Thank you Englishmann.

It's difficult to understand you last part 'The role of this inversion is to point out an action quickly followed by another one. ( the consecutiveness of the action is instant)'.

What I understand is by putting 'hardly' at the front, an action is quicker to be understood. But I don't know what it means exactly. An action in #1 is perhaps 'spoken'; but it seems the order of 'spoken' is almost the same.

Could you explain it a little further?

Englishmann · Answer

Ok.

"She had hardly spoken than she regretted it bitterly" contains two actions, right? The act of speech and the feeling of regret, correct?

Well,

The two actions can be separated from each other by a large or small time gap.

If the time gap between the two actions is undefined or it is a large one, we may say:

" First she had spoken, then she bitterly regretted it " - we have relatively no idea how long it was between the two, haven` t we?

If we say, on the other hand :

" Hardly had she spoken when she regretted it bitterly" - we DO KNOW that the time gap between the actions is very small.

So, here the role of " hardly" is to emphasize the rapidity of succession.

PS.

NOT to be confused with " She hardly spoke except to say hello" - here it means that she barely said anything.

Moon7296 · Answer

Thank you for the elaboration

.

I think this is quite unique inversion..

I have just simply thought most inversion occurs emphasising the verb; here, inversion still looks something to do with the verb, but more closely related to 'the rapidity of succession'.

Is inversion 'Hardly did she speak except to say hello' possible?

If so, this is different case of inversion, isn't it? / is it just to emphasise her act of almost not speaking?

Thank you^^

Hardly // inversion?

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