Question

Rewrite the following sentence using ‘no sooner than’-
As soon as Jacob stepped into the courtroom, his cell phone rang.
a)No sooner does Jacob step into the courtroom than his cell phone rang.
b)No sooner did Jacob step into the courtroom than his cell phone rang.
c)No sooner did Jacob step into the courtroom then his cell phone rang.
d)No sooner had Jacob stepped into the courtroom then his cell phone rang.

Answer 1

Hint: ‘No sooner than’ is used to refer to an action that takes place right after another action.

Complete step-by-step answer:

 With the help of the hint, we know the function of ‘No sooner than’.
Now, let’s look at the above-given statement-
As soon as Jacob stepped into the courtroom, his cell phone rang.

It suggests that as soon as Jacob entered the courtroom, his cell phone rang. So, an action took place immediately after another action.

Whenever we use ‘No sooner than’ at the beginning or starting of a sentence, we attach an auxiliary verb before the subject.

As given in the options, we can see the use of did + Jacob. (Auxiliary verb + subject)

Option- B is correct; as it elucidates the use of did (past tense) and the correct use of than.

All the other mentioned options are grammatically incorrect.

Hence, the correct answer is Option ’b’.

Note: ‘No sooner than’ always expresses the first action that was performed out of the two.