PrepRung

NDA 2021 GAT · English · Sentence Improvement · easy

Scarcely had we left the hall [than] it began to rain.

Single correct option

Choose the best replacement for the part in square brackets.
Scarcely had we left the hall [than] it began to rain.
  1. A. than
  2. B. when
  3. C. then
  4. D. that
Show answer and solution

Answer: (B) when

'Scarcely' and 'hardly' are followed by 'when', whereas 'no sooner' is followed by 'than'. This is a classic correlative pair tested often. 'Then' and 'that' do not complete the construction at all, so 'when' is the only choice that makes the sentence grammatically correct.
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Original question written in the NDA 2021 GAT pattern and checked twice for the correct answer. Not an official question paper. How we write and check questions · Corrections policy · Report a mistake