Question

Choose the alternative which can best improve the given sentence by substituting the italicised portion. If the sentence is correct as it is, your answer is (d).
No sooner I saw the tiger, than I ran away.

• A. as soon as I saw
• B. no sooner I had seen
• C. no sooner did I see
• D. no improvement

Hint:

No sooner I saw the tiger, than I ran away.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is C

To solve the given sentence improvement question, we need to focus on the correct use of the correlative conjunction "no sooner... than." Here's a step-by-step explanation:

1. Identify the structure requirement: The correlative conjunction "no sooner... than" is used to show that one event follows closely after another. The correct structure typically involves the inversion of the subject and auxiliary verb.
2. Analysing the given sentence:
   • Original sentence: "No sooner I saw the tiger, than I ran away."
   • Here, the phrase "no sooner I saw" does not follow the correct inversion pattern needed after "no sooner."
3. Correcting the sentence structure:
   • Correct structure: "No sooner did I see the tiger, than I ran away."
   • The auxiliary verb "did" is placed before the subject "I" to form the correct inversion: "no sooner did I see".
4. Examining the provided options:
   • as soon as I saw: This construction changes the conjunction from "no sooner... than" to "as soon as," which is correct but alters the original meaning.
   • no sooner I had seen: This option incorrectly omits the inversion required after "no sooner."
   • no sooner did I see: This option correctly uses the inversion, forming a grammatically correct sentence.
   • no improvement: This option assumes the original sentence is correct, which it is not.
5. Conclusion: Based on the analysis, the correct option is "no sooner did I see", which maintains the intended meaning of the original sentence while correcting the grammatical structure.