the exact meaning of "rarely" and examples of showing differentce with othesubtle nuancethe exact meaning of "rarely" and its difference in subtle meaning or nuance with other words(example : seldom)

[kjc0123]

What is the exact meaning of the following sentence in relation to the word "rarely"? Does it imply that the Appellate Court reversed one of his decisions but it is not often. Or does it imply that the Appellate Court usually agree with his decisions?

Rarely did the Appellate Court reverse one of his decisions

[jno]

It means the court occasionally reversed a decision - it might be more than one - but usually agreed with them. Usually, the word 'rarely' would go in the middle of the sentence ('The court rarely reversed one of his decisions') but the writer has put it at the start to emphasise how rare it is. Also, he doesn't really need to say 'one of' - 'Rarely did the court reverse his decisions' would mean the same thing.

[ludwig]

Rarely does the word 'rarely' begin a sentence, as jno said.

[Peter Pedant]

So rarely, kjc, that you notice that you have also to invert the verb. The construction is not a clear way of writing and you should nt copy it:

only rarely should you allow yourself to put the adverb first.  Does 'allow' mean you mustnt do it? yes

The proper word order is: The appeal court rarely reversed his decisions. And since they reversed one or two or his decisions it DOES imply that they agreed with the rest of his decisions. Howver remember that appeal court can only consider those cases which are appealed. The implciation is therefore weak.

Anyway nice to see you again.