Question

Choose the correct option to fill the blank:

No sooner did the thief see the police ____ he ran away.

• A. then
• B. than
• C. so
• D. because

Answer 1

The correct option is B than

Conjunctions are words that link other words, phrases, or clauses together.

The structure no sooner is used to talk about something that happens immediately after something else. When no sooner comes at the beginning of a sentence, we use inverted word order. That means the auxiliary verb comes before the subject. The conjunction 'No sooner ---- than' is also used to denote simultaneous actions. The given sentence depicts that as soon as the thief saw the police, he ran away immediately. These two activities take place almost simultaneously. There is no real time difference between them. Thus Option B is correct. Option A can be ruled out as 'Then' indicates 'in that case'. We use 'then' with 'if' to talk about cause and effect but it cannot be used in association with 'no sooner' which is used in case of an event happening immediately after something else. 'So' is used to indicate or show a result or consequence of an event. It cannot be associated with 'no sooner' which is used to denote simultaneous actions. Thus Option C is incorrect. 'Because' is used to connect the result of something with its reason.this is Since these two activities take place almost simultaneously and there is no real time difference between them 'because' cannot be used. Thus Option D is discarded.