Scarcely……when or Hardly……..when
It is used to combine or rewrite sentences denoting two simultaneous past actions.
Eg: I reached the railway station. At once, the train arrived.
As soon as I thought of having ice cream, my friend bought one for me.
Let’s study step by step how to combine or rewrite sentences with Scarcely…..when or hardly……when as follows:-
I First of all, the words or phrases like, as soon as, at once, soon, No sooner…than similar to Scarcely or Hardly should be avoided.
II Then, Scarcely or Hardly should be written in the beginning of the first sentence ( in the case of combining sentences ) or the first part of the sentence ( in the case of rewriting), and also the first sentence or the first part of the sentence should be rewritten in interrogative style with past perfect tense form, in both cases.
Eg: Scarcely/ hardly had I reached the railway station…. ( interrogative style with past perfect form)
Scarcely/hardly had I thought of having ice cream…. ( interrogative style with past perfect form )
III After writing as mentioned above, the second sentence or second part of the sentence is to be written after writing ‘When’.
Eg: Scarcely/hardly had I reached the railway station when the train arrived.
( Here the word ‘at once’ is avoided. )
Scarcely/hardly had I thought of having ice cream when my friend bought one for me.
( Here the phrase ‘as soon as’ is avoided.)
Let’s rewrite the following sentences with ‘scarcely…..when/ hardly….when’.
I No sooner did he enter the room than he saw a snake.
Ans. Scarcely had he entered the room when he saw a snake.
2 As soon as my friend asked the question, he got the correct answer.
Ans. Hardly had my friend asked the question when he got the correct answer.