Question

Fill in the blank with the correct word-
No sooner had he heard the noise ______ they arrived.
a) Then
b) Than
c) But
d) So

Answer 1

Hint: Read the given sentence carefully, make out its core meaning. Try to make out its subject, predicate, and object. Check what kind of word is needed to be filled in to make the whole sentence meaningful.

Complete answer:
 If you say that no sooner has one thing happened than another thing happens, you mean that the second thing happens immediately after the first thing. In the given question, we have to fill in the given bank with the correct form of ‘no sooner', as aligned with the tense of the given sentence.
Now, let us examine all the given options to find out the correct answer :
Option ‘a' is Then. It is an adverb which means at that time; at the time in question. For example, I was living in Cairo then. It is an incorrect option.
Option ‘b' is Than. It is a conjunction that is used to introduce the second part of the comparison in any sentence. The conjunction ‘No sooner -- than’ is also used to denote simultaneous actions. The given sentence depicts that as soon as he heard the noise, they arrived immediately. These two activities take place almost simultaneously.
Option ‘c' is But. It is not the correct option as ‘but' is used to introduce a word or phrase that contrasts with what was said before.
Option ‘d’ is So. It is also an incorrect option as ‘so’ is used to indicate or show a result or consequence of an event. It cannot be associated with ‘no sooner’ which is used to denote simultaneous actions.
Hence, option ‘b’ is the correct option.

Note:
 Conjunctions are words that link other words, phrases, or clauses together. The structure no sooner is used to talk about something that happens immediately after something else. When no sooner comes at the beginning of a sentence, we use inverted word order. That means the auxiliary verb comes before the subject.