Short answerHard1 mark
5(d)
Re-write the following sentences according to the instructions given after each. Make other changes that may be necessary, but do not change the meaning of each sentence.
As soon as the sun rose over the hills, the fog disappeared. (Begin: No sooner ...........)
Topic: Transformation — 'no sooner'
Previous-year question practice database
Answer
Exam answer
No sooner had the sun risen over the hills than the fog disappeared.
Explanation
Three things must all be right.
- THE PAIRING: "No sooner" is completed by THAN, never by "then". THAN makes a comparison; THEN refers to time.
- INVERSION: beginning with "No sooner" puts the auxiliary before the subject — "No sooner HAD THE SUN risen".
- TENSE: the earlier event takes the PAST PERFECT ("had risen") and the later one the simple past ("disappeared").
Watch the participle: it is "had RISEN", not "had rose". The three parts are rise — rose — risen, and only the third goes with "had".
The same construction appears in the 2021 and 2020 papers. Learn the family together: No sooner... than; Hardly/Scarcely... when.
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