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As soon as

• It is used to denote two simultaneous past actions .

That is,  the two past actions happening at the same time.

 

To understand it, let’s go through the following two sentences.

I  reached the railway station.   At once, the train arrived.

Here we can see two actions.

1.  Reached   and    2.   Arrived.

But how can we understand that  the two  are simultaneous actions..?

Of course,  by the phrase  ‘At once’,   we can understand it.

Similar terms  and phrases  are   ‘soon’,   ‘when’,  ‘then’,   ‘no sooner….than’,   ‘scarcely….when’,   ‘hardly….when’  etc…

 

• In practical study,   ‘As soon as’   is used to  rewrite or  combine  sentences.

 

• That is,  it  can be used to combine  two sentences,   or   rewrite  a single sentence into another  by maintaining the same meaning.

 

• Now let’s study how to use ‘As soon as’  in combining sentences.

 

1   To combine  two  sentences,   ‘As soon as’  should be written in the beginning of the sentence that shows the first past action.  

Eg:  I  gave her a birthday gift.   Soon,  she expressed her thanks to me with a kiss.

Here,  the first action   ‘gave’  is mentioned in the first sentence.   So  while combining these two sentences,  ‘As soon as’  should be written in the beginning of the first sentence as,

As soon as I  gave her a birthday gift……

2   After putting a coma, then  write the second sentence by avoiding the word  meaning similar to  ‘As soon as’.

 That is,   the word  ‘soon’. 

So now we can combine the above sentences as,

         As  soon as I gave her a birthday gift,   she  expressed her thanks to me with a kiss.

 

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• Now, let’s study how to rewrite sentences with ‘As soon as’.

 

Here also,  the same method  should be applied.

That is,  the part of the sentence mentioning the first past action  should begin with  ‘As soon as’. 

Then the words meaning similar to   ‘as soon as’   is to be avoided while writing  the next part of  the sentence.

 

Eg:  1. When I gave her a birthday gift,  she expressed her thanks to me with a kiss.

            As soon as I gave her a birthday gift,  she expressed her thanks to me with a kiss.

Here the word  ‘when’ is avoided.

 

       2    No sooner did I give her a birthday gift  than she expressed her thanks to me with a kiss.

Here the part,  mentioning the first action,  begins with  No sooner,  and  it is written in auxiliary beginning interrogative style

When the part begins with   As soon as,  the phrase  No sooner  is to be avoided, and  its interrogative style is to be changed into statement form as,

As soon as I gave ( did + give) her a birthday gift…….

Then,  the word  ‘than’  in the second part is to be avoided.

Then we get the answer as,

As soon as I gave her a birthday gift,  she expressed her thanks to me with a kiss.

 

3    Scarcely / hardly  had I given her a birthday gift when she expressed her thanks to me with a kiss.

Here, the word  Scarcely/ hardly is to be avoided at first  and  the auxiliary beginning interrogative style of the first part in past perfect tense is to be changed into  statement form in simple past tense after writing  ‘As soon as’  at first.

That is,  while changing the interrogative style  into statement form,  the past perfect tense form of  the part  is to be changed into  simple past form  as,

As soon as I gave her a birthday gift…….

Then the word  ‘when’  is to be avoided while writing the second part.

Thus we get the answer as,

As soon as I gave her a birthday gift,  she expressed her thanks to me with a kiss.

 

• So, we have studied to combine  and  rewrite sentences with   ‘As soon as’.

Note that,  ‘As soon as’  should be written at first in any case ,  and  also  when ‘as soon as’ is used,  the two simultaneous actions are to be mentioned in simple past tense.

 

Now,  let’s try to rewrite  the following sentences with  ‘As soon as’.

 

• No sooner did my father reach the railway station than the train arrived.

As soon as my father reached the railway station,  the train arrived.

Here,  ‘No sooner…..than’  is avoided.

 

• Hardly had he finished his education when he got a job opportunity.

As soon as he finished his education, he got a job opportunity.

Here,  ‘Hardly……when’  is avoided,   and also the past perfect tense  interrogative style of the first part is changed into  simple past tense  statement style.

 

Now  let’s try to combine the following two sentences with  ‘as soon as’.

 

         The exam started.  At once, he reached the exam hall.

         As soon as the exam started, he reached the exam hall.

Here, the phrase ‘At once’  is avoided.