hardly when 和no sooner than Hardl这两个短语都有“一……就”、“刚刚……就”的意思，它们的意思非常相近，因此有时可以互换。例如：

“我刚到公共汽车站，汽车就开了。”一句，就可以有如下几句译法：

Hardly had I got to the bus stop when the bus started.

No sooner had I got to the bus stop than the bus started.

但他们之间也有一些差异，例如，如果从两件事情的间隔时间来说，no sooner...than 居中，hardly...when 间隔时间最短。其它的一些区别见下面，请大家在运用的时候要留意。

no sooner…than它的意思相当于“刚做完A这件事，就做B这件事”。例如：

He had no sooner returned than he bought a house.

他一回来就买了一套房子。

如果no sooner 位于句首，主句要用倒装结构。例如：

No sooner had he arrived than he went away again.

他刚到就又走了。

No sooner had the game started  than it began to rain heavily.

运动会刚开始，天就下起了大雨。

有一点要注意，no sooner…than 一般用来描述做过的事情，它不能用于表示将来的事。

 

hardly…when...

它的意思是“几乎未来得及做完A这件事，紧接着就开始B这件事。”

使用这个短语时，一般用于过去完成时；并且when有时可改用before。例如：

He had hardly finished the article when the light went out.

他刚写完文，灯就熄了。

He had hardly had time to settle down when he sold the house.

他还未安顿下来，就卖掉了那所房子。

另外，如果把hardly放于句首，主句要用倒装结构即谓语动词要提前。如：

Hardly had I finished eating when he came in.

我刚吃完他就进来了。

Hardly had she gone out when a student came to visit her.

她还没走出家门，就有一个学生来看望她。

Hardly和Scarcely的基本用法

一、“hardly和scarcely（几乎不）”表示的半否定式：

1. I hardly (或scarcely) saw anything.我几乎什么也没看见。

2. It is hardly (或scarcely) right.这几乎是不对的。

3. We could hardly (或scarcely) understand it.我们几乎不可能了解这件事。

4. Hardly (或Scarcely) anybody believes that.几乎没有人相信这件事。（或：几乎谁都不相信这件事。）

二、“hardly (或scarcely)…when（或before）…”作“刚……就……”解，注意hardly和scarcely位于句首时，有主、谓语颠倒现象：

1. Hardly had I reached the station when (或before)the train started.我刚到车站，火车就开了。

2. Scarcely had he opened the door when(或before)a gust of wind blew the candle out.他刚开门，一阵风就把蜡烛吹灭了。

使用本句型结构时必须注意下列三点：

（1）scarcely或hardly所在的主句内，谓语动作发生在when或before从句内的谓语动词之前，因此主句用过去完成时，从句用过去时。

（2）若hardly或scarcely位于句首，则后面主语和助动词词序要颠倒。

（3）不能用than代替句中的when，若非要用than，则必须改用“no sooner…than…”句型。下列几种表示式的句意相同：

a）He had scarcely (或hardly) seen the letter when (或before) he started back home.他一见到信就动身回家了。

b）Scarcely (或hardly) had he seen the letter when（或before）he started back home.（译文同上）

c）He had no sooner seen the letter than he started back home. （译文同上）

d）No sooner had he seen the letter than he started back home. （译文同上）

e）He started back home as soon as he saw the letter.(=As soon as he saw the letter, he stated back home.) （译文同上）

注：用as soon as …时，主句和从句的时态通常一致，但从句不用将来时，因它是时间从句。