Examkin

Question

Difficulty: MediumVerbs, Tenses, and Aspect

Complete the sentence below by filling in the blank with the grammatically correct auxiliary verb form.

Answer:No sooner 【had】 the magistrate pronounced the verdict than a sudden murmur of astonishment rippled through the courtroom.

Answer

The correct auxiliary verb to complete the sentence is 'had'.
When a sentence begins with the negative correlative conjunction 'No sooner', it demands subject-auxiliary inversion in the past perfect tense. The auxiliary 'had' precedes the subject 'the magistrate' and pairs with the past participle 'pronounced', correctly correlating with 'than' followed by the simple past verb 'rippled'.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the sentence structure and adverbial placement.
The sentence begins with the negative correlative adverbial 'No sooner', followed by a subject, a past participle ('pronounced'), and a clause introduced by 'than' in the simple past tense ('rippled').
Placing negative or restrictive adverbials like 'No sooner', 'Hardly', or 'Scarcely' at the front of a sentence requires subject-auxiliary inversion.
2
Select the appropriate tense and auxiliary verb.
The event in the first clause occurred prior to another past event. The past perfect tense construction requires the auxiliary verb 'had' placed before the subject.
The past perfect auxiliary 'had' combines with the past participle 'pronounced' to express the earlier past action in an inverted sentence structure.

Key Concept

Subject-auxiliary inversion with negative adverbials and past perfect tense sequence
Rate this question

Topics

Verbs, Tenses, and Aspect

More questions from this topic