此外，兩者都可以修飾不定代詞，all, every 和everybody。如：10) Almost (Nearly) all of my friends came to the party. 11) Now let me try to explain how and why these things have come to pass in almost (nearly) every civilized country.
然而，almost和nearly兩者並不完全同義，用法也不盡相同。首先，almost語氣較重，它所表示的接近程度大於nearly，因此很多權威詞典都將它釋義為very nearly but not completely, 請比較兩個頗為有趣的例子：12)A book that is almost completed is nearer its completion than one that is nearly completed. 13)It’s almost lunch time(若12點是午飯時間則可能是11點57分)It’s nearly lunch time.(可能是11點45分)其次，在使用頻率上，almost 高於nearly,即almost 更為普通、多用，尤其是在口語中；almost 多用於美國英語，而nearly 則多用英國英語。前者側重於“短缺，差壹點兒，不足”，而後者nearly 則表示“接近”。如：14)They had almost finished when they were interrupted. 15) They are nearly at the end of their journey.還有，在nearly的前面可以用very, pretty和not來修飾，而almost則不可能。如：16) I very nearly did forget. 17) We pretty nearly missed the train.再有，在否定詞no, none, never, nobody, no one, nothing, nowhere等之前可以用almost,但不可用nearly。如：18)There was almost no snow that winter. 19)Almost no one (Hardly anyone)believed him. 20) She said almost nothing worth hearing.
順便提壹下，由於any常用於否定結構，所以它也可與almost連用。如：21)Almost any bus will do.但應註意，almost不可後接not,如不可說：I am almost not prepared.(但可以說almost impossible, almost unprepared等)上述只有almost 可後接否定詞的原因是否定詞不能給予具體的衡量或比較；由於同樣的原因，在壹些內含感情或心態(feeling or state of mind)的場合，壹般也只可用almost,相當於漢語的“簡直”。 如：22)I almost wish I had taken his advice. 23)You could almost imagine you were in Switzerland. 24)It almost seems (looks) that something is wrong with the TV set.
在當代英語中，almost 有時並不強調其but not completedly or exactly(但不完全或確切是)的含義，而多少有點肯定的成分，相當於virtually或practically(可以說是)。如：25)The holidays are almost over. 26)I believe you’re almost honest.
還應該記住，通常不說not almost，但可說not nearly ，其意不是“不近於，不近乎”，而是意為“遠遠不(夠)，壹點也不”(not at all)，而且已經是成語型的固定用法了。如：27)It is not nearly so expensive as I thought. 28)I have ￡20, but that is not nearly enough for my (journey)fare.
最後，在當代英語中有將almost作形容詞用的傾向，而nearly作形容詞用卻比較少見(有例外情況)。如: 29)Mazo had innocent brown eyes and baby cheeks and an almost sweetness about him... 30)At nearly Christmas the foliage was as brilliant as when the outrage was committed.