Question

Choose the option that best fills the blank:
No sooner did the child start crying ____ his father lifted him up.

• A. then
• B. but
• C. after
• D. than

Answer 1

The correct option is D 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 child started crying, his father lifted him up immediately. These two activities take place almost simultaneously. There is no real time difference between them. Thus Option D 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. 'After' shows "subsequently to the time when".Thus Option C can be discarded as it is clearly mentioned that two activities take place almost simultaneously.'Option B can be ruled out as the conjunction 'but' is used to suggest a contrast.