Not, hardly, a sound, could be heard in auditorium when the speaker approached the dias to announce

Question

Not, hardly, a sound, could be heard in auditorium when the speaker approached the dias to announce the result of the contest

Sahaj Vidhi Expert · Accepted Answer

Not hardly - 'Not, hardly' is a double negative, which is grammatically incorrect. It should be either 'Hardly a sound' or 'Not a sound'.