It was so small you could
hardly
scarcely
barely see it.
Take a look at these sentences:
I don't know John very much at all.
She can't hear very much at all.
I couldn't understand him very much at all.
In all three cases it is better to replace the phrase 'very much at all' with an adverb of degree - hardly, barely or scarcely.
I hardly know John.
She can barely hear.
I could scarcely understand him.
The adverbs are used with a positive verb but mean 'a very small amount' or 'a small margin'.
Here are some more examples, used in different situations:
The bullet grazed my skin but I barely felt it.
Hardly anyone turned up for the meeting.
I had scarcely entered the room when the lights went out.
Usually you can choose which adverb to use - there is not much difference between hardly, barely and scarcely. But certain words are preferred in certain situations:
Hardly anyone voted this year.
Scarcely anyone voted this year.
xBarelyx
I got the job even though I was only barely qualified. (= just qualified)
xHardly, Scarcelyx
The bird used to be common but now scarcely survives. (= very rare)
xHardly
Note: sparsely is used to modify adjectives and means 'a small amount':
The hotel was cheap and sparsely furnished.
The ski track went through sparsely wooded hillsides.
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