Choose the option that correctly completes the inverted sentence:
Hardly _____ when a sudden torrential downpour flooded the marketplace.
Answer and explanation
Correct answer: B. had the traders set up their stalls
- Step 1: Negative and limiting adverbs at the start of a sentence ('Hardly', 'Scarcely', 'Barely') require subject-auxiliary inversion.
- Step 2: In past narrative contexts paired with 'when', the past perfect inverted form is 'had + subject + past participle'.
Answer
had the traders set up their stalls.
Why not the others: Uninverted word order is ungrammatical following sentence-initial 'Hardly'.
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