1. 两者都可用来修饰不定代词、形容词、副词、动词、介词短语等,此时两者常可换用。如:It’s almost [nearly] impossible. 那几乎是不可能的。He is almost [nearly] as tall as her. 他差不多与她一样高。He almost [nearly] always arrives late. 他差不多总是迟到。He almost [nearly] always arrivesle="FONT-SIZE: 10.5pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">He fell and almost [nearly] broke his leg. 他跌了一跤,险些跌断了腿。Almost [Nearly] all the students passed the exam. 差不多所有的学生都通过了考试。修饰动词时,通常应放在行为动词之前,特殊动词之后(见上例);修饰形容词、副词、名词等时,通常应将其放在被修饰词语之前,否则会造成错误。如:;修饰形容词、副词、名词等时,通常应将其放在被修饰词语之前,否则会造成错误。INDENT: 21pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 20pt; mso-char-indent-count: 2.0">他几乎工作了一整天。正:He worked almost all day.误:He almost worked all day.我们当中几乎每一个人都读过这本书。正:Almost every one of us read the book.
Every one of us almost read the book.

2. almost 可用于 any 以及 no, none, nobody, nothing, never 等否定词之前,但 nearly 一般不这样用。如:Almost any man can do it. 几乎任何人都会做。Almost no one came to the party. 几乎没有人来参加晚会。I almost never see her. 我几乎从未见过她。但是,两者都可用在否定动词之前。如:He almost [nearly] didn’t catch the bus. 他差点没赶上公共汽车。3. nearly 前可用 very, pretty, not 等词修饰,但 almost 之前不能用这些词。如:It’s not nearly so difficult as you think.这远不像你想`象的那么难。The car is pretty nearly new. 这汽车几乎是全新的。The car is pretty nearly new. 注:not nearly 意为“远非”, very [pretty] nearly 意为“几乎”,都是习语。4. 有时 almost 可表示十分相似(但又不完全相同),此时不用 nearly。如:I almost wish I’d stayed at home. 我真有点后悔没在家里呆着。
Our cat understands everything — he’s almost human. 我们这只猫什么都懂Our cat understand everything — he’tyle="FONT-SIZE: 10.5pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">—— 快通人性了。