Question

Fill in the blank with a suitable option:
Hardly had he uttered the words ________.
a) than we left the room
b) when he began laughing
c) as soon as everybody sat down
d) the manager came in

Answer 1

Hint: When you begin a sentence with ‘hardly’, it becomes conjunction. These conjunctions are used to join sentences with two main subject matters. The answer that contains this correlative conjunction will be correct.

Complete answer:
 In grammar, the conjunction is a part of speech that connects words, phrases, or clauses that are called the conjuncts of the conjunctions.
Conjunctions have an important function because they join other words and phrases together. Without conjunctions, we could only make very, very simple sentences. Some conjunctions contain multiple words. They are called correlative conjunctions.
In the given sentence, the conjunctions should be split up and distributed, so that the meaning of the sentence does not change at all.
In the given sentence, there are two subject matters. So, we can conclude that we are
looking for correlative conjunctions. One part of the correlative conjunction is ‘hardly’. the
word ‘hardly’ is similar in meaning to ‘no sooner’. So, their partners must be the same. The
partner of ‘no sooner’ is the word ‘when’. Now, we have found the other conjunction that fits with the word ‘hardly’.

Now, we know what we are looking for. Let’s go through the available options:

a) than we left the room - This option begins with the word ‘than’. The word ‘than’ is used as a conjunction, but it is not the second half of the correlative conjunction. This is not the required answer. So, this is an incorrect option.
b) when he began laughing - This option begins with the word ‘when’. The word ‘when’ is used as a conjunction, and it is the second half of the correlative conjunction. This is the required answer. So, this is the correct option.
c) as soon as everybody sat down - This option begins with the phrase ‘as soon as’. The phrase ‘as soon as’ is used as a conjunction, but it is not the second half of the correlative conjunction. This is not the required answer. So, this is an incorrect option.
d) the manager came in - This option does not contain conjunction at the beginning. This is not the required answer. So, this is an incorrect option.



Note:
 Try to understand the meaning of the given sentence. Then, try to find the correct correlative conjunction. Try to use the correlative conjunction and choose the most appropriate option accordingly.