Choose the option that best completes the sentence:
Scarcely had the keynote speaker stepped onto the stage _____ the lights went out.
Answer and explanation
Correct answer: D. when
- Step 1: Analyze the correlative conjunction construction following the inverted negative adverbial 'Scarcely had...'. In standard English, 'scarcely' (and 'hardly') pairs strictly with 'when' or 'before' to connect two closely sequential past events.
- Step 2: Note the distinction with other inverted negative adverbials: 'no sooner' pairs with 'than', whereas 'scarcely' and 'hardly' must pair with 'when'.
Answer
when.
Why not the others: than incorrectly confuses the 'scarcely... when' pairing with the 'no sooner... than' correlative construction; then incorrectly treats the subordinate clause as an independent adverbial sequence; that is a relative pronoun or noun clause conjunction that cannot mark temporal correlation here.
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