Question
Updated on
24 Oct 2019
- Korean
-
English (US)
-
Japanese
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English (UK)
Question about English (UK)
1. Hardly had she left home when it began to rain.
= No sooner had she left home than it began to rain.
2. No sooner had he seen me than he ran away.
= Hardly had he seen me when he ran away.
→ Are they grammatically correct and natural?
I'm not sure if the usage of "hardly~ when" is the same as the usage of "no sooner~ than".
1. Hardly had she left home when it began to rain.
= No sooner had she left home than it began to rain.
2. No sooner had he seen me than he ran away.
= Hardly had he seen me when he ran away.
→ Are they grammatically correct and natural?
I'm not sure if the usage of "hardly~ when" is the same as the usage of "no sooner~ than".
= No sooner had she left home than it began to rain.
2. No sooner had he seen me than he ran away.
= Hardly had he seen me when he ran away.
→ Are they grammatically correct and natural?
I'm not sure if the usage of "hardly~ when" is the same as the usage of "no sooner~ than".
Answers
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- English (UK)
- English (US)
She had hardly left home...
He had hardly seen me...
The way you have it is awkward - understandable, but not good usage
Highly-rated answerer
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- Korean
- English (UK)
Both 'hardly~when' and 'no sooner~than' form are grammatically correct but 'hardly~when' is unnatural and sounds a bit old
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- Korean
- English (UK)
@LeeKevin Yes - both give the impression of something happening immediately after something else
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- Korean
@ravhel33 Thank you for letting me know. Are the two sentences in the first set the same? What about the ones in the second set?
- English (UK)
Sorry for the late reply!
The first two sentences convey the same idea. However, they both seem a little unnatural.
I think changing the word order for the first sentence would help make it more natural. 'She had hardly left home' sounds better than 'hardly had she left home'. I know this might be a bit unhelpful but something about the second sentence seems off? I would change it to 'No sooner had she left home than had it began to rain.'. I would check the second sentence with and English teacher if you have one.
The third and fourth sentences also have similar ideas but could be worded better.
Just like the sentence before, the third sentence seems to sound better when changed to 'No sooner had he seen me than had he ran away.' The fourth sentence makes sense, but perhaps sounds better as 'He had hardly seen me'.
I hope this helps!
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