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Question

Difficulty: Very hardConjunctions and Clause Structure

Complete the sentence below by supplying the correct correlative conjunction phrase in the blank.

Answer:【No sooner】 had the new policy been announced than a wave of public protest swept across the state.

Answer

The correct phrase to complete the sentence is 'No sooner'.
The correct response is 'No sooner'. In formal English, placing 'No sooner' at the sentence head mandates subject-auxiliary inversion ('had the new policy...') and strictly requires 'than' to connect the subsequent dependent clause.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Examine the subordinate and main clause structures in the given sentence.
The initial clause shows subject-auxiliary inversion ('had the new policy been announced'), and the following main clause is introduced by the conjunction 'than'.
Correlative adverbial structures that express immediate sequence require specific paired conjunctions.
2
Determine which negative or limitative connective pairs strictly with 'than'.
'No sooner' is the specific correlative conjunction that triggers fronted inversion and pairs with 'than'.
Connectives such as 'Hardly', 'Scarcely', or 'Barely' require 'when' or 'before' rather than 'than'.

Key Concept

Inverted Correlative Conjunctions (No sooner... than)
Estimated Time:1m 0s
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Topics

Conjunctions and Clause Structure

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