Why is the position of the word different? The word is "hardly"

hi,

try these sentences:

"the man works hardly."
"the man hardly works."

as you can see, both of the sentences contain the same four words yet structured differently, and bear different meaning. the former could mean that the 'man' shows perseverance while the latter could possibly mean that the 'man' is finding it hard to perform his work.

"she hardly eat anything" = "she doesn't almost eat anything (or with 'difficulty' to eat anything)", while;
"I gained hardly anything" = "I gained almost anything."

(I stand corrected on this!)

:)