No sooner

[nicolas]

No sooner had I left the house than it started raining.

I have other questions for this sentence. :D


Is it means "no sooner than it started raining"?

But we sooner than it started raining, because I had left the house. :D
Even we still be rained ( can I say that ?? We be rained ?)


Why do we put had in this position?
Does it emphasize and refer to I left the house?

"Not until" and "no sooner" are really advanced, I can not find them in my grammar book - Basic English Usage. :wink:

[RonBee]

Re:

• No sooner had I left the house than it started raining.

Perhaps you are taking that sentence too literally. In any case that sentence means the same as As soon as I left the house it started raining. In other words, a couple of minutes after he went outside the rain started coming down.

Is it means "no sooner than it started raining"?

• Does it mean "no sooner than it started raining"?

No.

Why do we put had in this position?

The word had indicates that the action happened in the past before another action.

(You can't say we be rained or we still be rained.)

:)

[nicolas]

Perhaps you are taking that sentence too literally.

That's my bad habit :wink:

In any case that sentence means the same as As soon as I left the house it started raining. In other words, a couple of minutes after he went outside the rain started coming down.

Thanks!! I'll remember that (no sooner ... than / as soon as)

• Does it mean "no sooner than it started raining"?

No.

Thanks :wink:

You can't say we be rained or we still be rained.

Thanks :D

But can we say something be rained?
Or do we express that in other way?

[RonBee]

But can we say something be rained?

No, you can't say that. There are, however, plenty of ways to talk about rain. You can have

• a driving rain
  a mist
  a drizzle
  it coming down in sheets
  it pouring down
  it coming down in buckets
  it raining cats and dogs

That's good for now. :D

[nicolas]

No, you can't say that. There are, however, plenty of ways to talk about rain. You can have

• a driving rain
  a mist
  a drizzle
  it coming down in sheets
  it pouring down
  it coming down in buckets
  it raining cats and dogs

Yes, I'll remember that :D


So if someone puts his bicycle outside the house, and it's going to rain.
I should say the bicycle will get wet, but not the bicycle will be rained. <-- ??

[RonBee]

You can say The bicycle will get wet or The bicycle will get rained on, but the first is more idiomatic.

:)

[nicolas]

Dear RonBee,

Thanks a lot!! :D

[RonBee]

Dear RonBee,

Thanks a lot!! :D

You're quite welcome. :D

[caskrishna]

Hi,

I have a question about "no sooner...than". My apologies if this has already been discussed.

1. I had no sooner closed the door than somebody knocked.
2. We no sooner sat down in the train than I felt sick.

Could I interpret the above sentences as follows?

3. Immediately after somebody knocked the door, I closed the door.
4. Immediately after I felt sick, we sat down in the train.

Thanks for your help.
CAS.

[csharp]

I'm wrong :)) The correct answer is than
And this is the explaination:
Because sooner in no sooner is a comparative adverb like better in no better, the expression should be followed by than, not then: No sooner had she come than the maid knocked. I had no sooner left than she called.
§ 216. no sooner than / no sooner when. 3. Word Choice. The American Heritage Book of English Usage. 1996