a. My sons almost don't talk to each other.
b. My sons almost never talk to each other.
Are both of the above sentences grammatically correct and do they mean the same?
I use (b). (a) sounds a bit strange to me, but I'd assume it means the same as (b).
Best Answer
Sentence (a) is awkward. Sentence (b) is colloquial.
In (a) the word "hardly" would be more concise than "almost don't":
My sons hardly talk to each other.
In (b) you could replace "almost never" with the slightly more formal "hardly ever":
My sons hardly ever talk to each other.
If they don't often phone each other, "rarely/seldom speak" would be rather more formal options:
My sons rarely/seldom speak to each other.
And if they can only speak grudgingly, you might say:
My sons barely speak to each other.