Question

Given below sentence. A part of each sentence is underlined which may contain an error. Replace the underlined part with the right choice
He had not scarcely entered when I shouted

• A. scarcely entered when
• B. scarcely entered than
• C. not hardly entered when
• D. scarcely enters

Answer 1

The Correct Option is A

The given sentence is: "He had not scarcely entered when I shouted." This sentence is part of a question asking for a correction if any error is present in the underlined part "not scarcely entered when."

We need to identify if there is a grammatical error related to the usage of words like "scarcely" and "not."

1. Understanding Double Negatives: The original sentence uses "not scarcely," which is incorrect because "not" and "scarcely" together form a double negative. In English grammar, double negatives are generally considered incorrect because they create a sentence that unintentionally conveys the opposite meaning.
2. Proper Pairing with Conjunctions: The word "scarcely" is often used in conjunction with "when" or "before" to indicate that something happened immediately prior to something else. The correct idiomatic pair would be "scarcely...when" to convey that as soon as one event occurred, another followed.
3. Analyzing Options:
   • "scarcely entered when" is the correct option as it follows the grammatical structure of "scarcely...when," correctly indicating that he had just entered when the other event (shouting) happened.
   • "scarcely entered than" is incorrect, as "than" is typically used for comparisons and not suitable in this context.
   • "not hardly entered when" introduces another double negative ("not hardly"), which is incorrect for the same reason as the original sentence.
   • "scarcely enters" doesn't fit as it shifts the tense incorrectly and lacks the linking conjunction needed in the past context described.
4. Conclusion: Therefore, the corrected sentence should use "scarcely entered when," making it "He scarcely entered when I shouted."

Thus, the correct answer is : "scarcely entered when".