Grammar issues and their application; Need Help

i am a bit confused about the sentences as given. just help me to the right one.

1)no sooner did he left the house, .... it started to hail.

(a)than
(b)when
(c)then

*i am a bit inclined towards option (a)... for it maintans the sense of comparison that the phrase "no sooner" contain. need help!

also when it comes to "hardly" then...
2)hardly had he left the room, ... it started to rain.

(a)than
(b)when
(c)then

*plz indicate the right option.

1) the answer is a because it is an idiom- no sooner...than- idioms.thefreedictionary.com/no+sooner+than

2) grammaring.com/hardly-scarcely-barely-no-sooner- TAKE A LOOK AT THIS AND YOU WILL KNOW. THE ANSWER IS B.

Also it should be no sooner had, no no sooner did.

no problem but I thought the link explained it all. The second link- grammaring.com/hardly-scarcely-barely-no-sooner-

Hardly had I arrived home when my phone rang. (I had hardly arrived home when my phone rang.)
Scarcely had she finished reading when she fell asleep. (She had scarcely finished reading when she fell asleep.)
Barely had they won the match when the coach had a heart attack. (They had barely won the match when the coach had a heart attack.)

No sooner had the company launched a new product than it went bankrupt. (The company had no sooner launched a new product than it went bankrupt.)

I too agree with what "chessman567" brought with regards to "no sooner & hardly".

mhss.

temptprovidence
it is then because your sentence means as soon as you left the house it started to hail

Hi,

The answer for the first question is (a), here is the formulation:

[No sooner + auxiliary + S + V + than + S + V] --> only used with the 'present' and the 'past' tense

eg1: No sooner will he arrive than he want to leave. (present) ---> meaning: he had just arrived, and because of some reason (that we don't know), he wanted to leave immidiately.

eg2: No sooner had we started out for California than it started to rain (Past)

Pls note that: No sooner...than = Hardly/Scarely...when therefore, the answer for the 2nd question is 'When' not 'Than'.

[Qouted from TOEFL gramma in use]

Hope it will help.

Cheers,
Hung