HOTS English Primary 1 Cloze

Choose the correct word from the word bank to fill in the blank. Word bank: [Hardly, Scarcely, Barely, No sooner]. "_______ had the parade begun _______ the rain started to pour."

A No sooner / than
B Hardly / when
C Scarcely / than
D Barely / that
Show Worked Solution

Worked Solution

Step 1: The sentence uses inverted word order — 'Had the parade begun' signals an inverted conditional/temporal structure. Step 2: Four inverted negative adverbial structures exist: 'Hardly...when', 'Scarcely...when', 'No sooner...than', 'Barely...when'. Step 3: The second blank contains 'than' — only 'No sooner' pairs with 'than'. Answer: No sooner / than

Correct answer: No sooner / than

Want more questions like this? Superholic Lab has 10,000+ MOE-aligned questions with full worked solutions.

Start Free Trial — 7 Days Free