passive construction of a sentence that starts with "no sooner"

Forums: English, Esl, Grammar, English Grammar
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1. We had no sooner started the work than he closed the door.

2. The work had no sooner been started than he closed the door.

3. The work had no sooner been started, when he closed the door.

The last two sentences are the passive constructions of first one, though I don't think that the meanings of last two are same. Please say what you think. Which one from last two is more common?

If I write the following sentence, is the meaning of it same to the first active construction?

"No sooner had we started the work than he closed the door."

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Type: Question • Score: 2 • Views: 839 • Replies: 6

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@Azah,

First of all, you're using "than" incorrectly in #1 and #2. Your #3 looks best, but I don't think the comma is necessary. There's nothing subordinate about that clause.

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@FBM,

Please tell me the correct forms of 1 and 2. And say something about "No sooner had we started the work than he closed the door".

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@Azah,

Ah, wait. My bad. You were using it correctly there. Forget what I said about that. Smile

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IMHO

"he closed the door" is the main clause of the sentence.

All the other stuff is an adverbial clause that tells "when"

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@Azah,

Quote:

3. The work had no sooner been started, when he closed the door.

That sentence is wrong. You must use "than".

The meaning is: no sooner had something happened, than something else happened.

I would suggest:
3. The work had no sooner started than he closed the door.
or
No sooner had the work started than he closed the door.

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@McTag,

To explain further, this construction is the same as

faster than
smaller than
better than, worse than
no later than
no earlier than

it's a comparative.

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passive construction of a sentence that starts with "no sooner"

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