A taste of English: a sample

 no sooner . . . . than

No sooner had I stepped out than it started raining.

^ same meaning as “It started raining as soon as I stepped out” (you say this way in spoken English)

^ the auxiliary verb (had) and the subject (I) are in inverted word order.

^ the second action (raining) happened right after the first action (stepped out), almost same time.

^ it is “than”, not “then”

No sooner had I eaten the fish than I started feeling sick.

No sooner were her preparations made than they roused a smothered sense of resistance.

No sooner had Russell reached Trinity than Whitehead suggested to the Conversazion Society (also known as Apostles Society), the most prestigious of Cambridge Societies, that they keep an eye on him and Charles Sanger as potential recruit.


indefinite article: a, an

^ use “a” before a singular noun beginning with a consonant sound.

^ use “an” before a singular noun beginning with a vowel sound.

Cox will contribute 10 percent of the equity needed to build a $80 million cable system. (this is in Washington Post)  Wrong!!

^ when the noun is a number, it can be tricky, “80” is pronounced as a vowel sound, so it is “an $80”


. . . and a FBI agent drafted in from the bureau's Cleveland office.  Wrong!!

^ when the first letter of an abbreviation pronounced as a vowel, use “an FBI”

^ Before she became an MP (member of parliament), she was a social worker.

^ He drives an SUV.


He is an honest man ('h' is silent, so pronounced as a vowel “o”)

^ the same is true for heir, heiress, heirloom, honorary, honourable, hour, hourly


use “a” in front of words beginning with “u” when the “u” is pronounced “ju” (you)

^ He is a university professor.

^ He became a union member.

^ the same is true for the following words:

ubiquitous, unanimous, unicorn, unification, uniform, unilateral, unique, united,

universal, urine, use, usual, utensil, uterus, utility, utopian, usurper

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