Scarcely

Question

Hi,Can 'scarcely' and 'barely' be used interchangeably here? There were scarcely five people at the park.2) They gave their voice to the issue. (is it okay to have singular voice instead of voices in this case? Because offering voice here is more like offering support)3) Is this okay in conversation: you can attack John all you want, but what he says is true.Thanks.

Mr Wordy · Accepted Answer

AnonymousCan 'scarcely' and 'barely' be used interchangeably here? There were scarcely five people at the park.

Yes.

Anonymous) They gave their voice to the issue. (is it okay to have singular voice instead of voices in this case? Because offering voice here is more like offering support)

It doesn't sound right to me with either. The idiom I'm familiar with is "give voice to" (no "their"). This doesn't change with number: "he gave voice to", "they gave voice to". It also doesn't really mean "offering support", more like just vocally expressing.

Edit: I see at Google Books that this seems to be a known expression, so I retract my reply. Hopefully someone else can answer you.

Anonymous3) Is this okay in conversation: you can attack John all you want, but what he says is true.

It's fine (well, except that you forgot the capital letter at the start of the sentence).

Anonymous · Answer

Thanks, Wordy. Google search gives both 'lend their voice' and 'lend their voices'. The former sounds far better, though.

Scarcely

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