hardly…when、no sooner…than跟 as soon as的用法解析與例句

ㄧ…就…As Soon As / No Sooner Than / hardly…when

寫文章的時候，尤其是敘述文體，我們常使用時間來表示事件的順序，as soon…as / no sooner…than / hardly (scarcely)…when(before)就用來強調兩個事件同時（或幾乎同時）發生的。雖然三個句型語意差不多，但是時態不同與連接詞也不同，也因此造成許多人的疑惑。

as soon as

soon是個副詞，意思是很快，但它跟quickly或fast的快的概念不同，不是動作做得很快，而是前後事件發生的時間間隔很短，或是事件或一個情況很快就發生了。中文可以用『很快』來表達動作做得很快，例如：黑豹跑得很快; 也可以表時間間隔很短，例如：他很快就會到了。這一點是許多學生沒注意到的地方，請將soon的意思，也記成『沒多久』或『不一會兒』，會比較不容易搞混。

soon的例句：

1. I’ll be back soon.
   我沒多久就會回來了
2. I would go to bed soon after dinner in my childhood.
   我小時候，吃完晚餐後，沒多久就上床睡覺
3. The song soon became a hit.
   那首歌沒多久就大紅了

S1 V as soon as S2 V“這個句型，表示，前面的事件（動作）和後面的事件發生，中間幾乎沒有時間差，中文翻譯成一…就…，因為是原級（動作一樣地快），所以時態一致，前後事件都用簡單式表示。這個句型也可以用The moment (minute) S1 V, S2 V.來代換。

as soon as的例句：

1. As soon as the mother saw her kid, she cried.
   = The moment the mother saw her kid, she cried.
   一看到孩子，媽媽就哭了
2. The thief ran away as soon as he saw the police.
   = The minute the thief saw the police, he ran away.
   一看到警察，小偷就跑了
3. The students got excited as soon as they heard their favorite song.
   = The moment the students heard their favorite song, they got excited.
   一聽到他們最喜歡的歌，那些學生就激動（興奮）起來

no sooner…than

sooner是soon的比較級，其意思是比較快(請記得，不是動作做得比較快，而是時間的間隔更短，事件發生的比較快）。因為sooner這個字是副詞的比較級，比較兩個動作或事件發生時間上的快慢，所以後面常常必須有連接詞than（比較級的連接詞）。

sooner例句：

1. He not only has a higher chance of getting heart disease but getting it sooner as well.
   他不只比別人還容易有心臟病，還可能比別人更早（更年輕）
2. You will get what you want sooner or later.
   你早晚會得到你要的（達到目的）
3. He came sooner than expected.
   他比預期的還早到
4. The sooner we take urgent action, the better will our children be protected.
   我們越快採取行動，就能更好地保護我們的孩子（後半段用倒裝句來強調）

了解了sooner 的意思與sooner than的用法後，就知道no sooner後面一定要用than，因為是比較級。接下來我們來看語意，sooner than是比…還要早（快），那麼，no sooner…than就是沒有比…還早（快）。

在語言中，當兩個人的高度一樣時，我們可以說：『他和我一樣高』，也可以說：『他沒有比我高』。所以當兩個事件幾乎同時發生，中文語意是『ㄧ…就…』，英文可以用原級比較as soon as（發生時間一樣快），也可以用否定的比較級no sooner…than（發生時間沒有比較快）來表達。但是，要注意的是，因為是比較級，即使，兩個動作幾乎同時發生，動作時間還是要強迫分先後，先發生的用完成式，後發生的用簡單式。

例如：『小偷一看到警察，就跑了。』這個句子裡的兩個動作雖然幾乎同時發生，但是，小偷必須先看到警察，才會做跑的動作。如果我們用as soon as來表達，就表示，我們忽略這一點點的時間差，強調兩個動作同時發生，時態都用簡單式，因為是已經發生過的事，所以用過去簡單式。As soon as the thief saw the police, he ran away .如果我們用no sooner…than來表示，就要將這個時間差表示出來，『看到警察』先發生，用過去完成式，『跑了』後發生用過去簡單式。The thief had no sooner seen the police than he ran away.

no sooner …than例句：

1. The mother had no sooner seen her kid than she cried.
2. The students had no sooner heard their favorite song than they got excited.
3. I had no sooner seen those cockroaches than I screamed in fear.
   =As soon as I saw those cockroaches, I screamed in fear.
4. The fire alarm had no sooner gone off than the shoppers rushed out of the department store.
   =As soon as the fire alarm went off, the shoppers rushed out of the department store.
5. The teacher had no sooner got into the classroom than the students stopped talking.
   =As soon as the teacher got into the classroom, the audience stopped talking.

在no sooner…than的句型中，no sooner是否定副詞片語，可以移到主詞前面，並將動詞與主詞倒裝（一定要），以強調句意。下面以小偷的例句為例，一步步教大家如何倒裝：

The thief had no sooner seen the police than he ran away.
→No sooner the thief had seen the police than he ran away. (這一句是錯的，記得，否定副詞在主詞前面，主詞動詞一定要倒裝，想要進一步了解，請閱讀『英文倒裝句的解析、用法與例句』）
→No sooner had the thief seen the police than he ran away. （記得，倒裝句的句子結構跟Yes / No 問句一樣）

將上面no sooner …than例句改成倒裝句：

1. No sooner had the mother seen her kid than she cried.
2. No sooner had the students heard their favorite song than they got excited.
3. No sooner had I seen the cockroaches than I screamed in fear.
   =As soon as I saw the cockroaches, I screamed in fear.
4. No sooner had the fire alarm gone off than the shoppers rushed out of the department store.
   =As soon as the fire alarm went off, the shoppers rushed out of the department store.
5. No sooner had the teacher got into the classroom than the students stopped talking.
   =As soon as the teacher got into the classroom, the audience stopped talking.

hardly…when / scarcely…before

hardly跟scarcely都是副詞，他們的意思是幾乎不，也就是，他們本身就是否定副詞，強調不做（雖然有做過）或是雖然有做，但沒辦法做好。我們先舉幾個例子，讓大家比較了這兩個字的用法與意思。

hardly 例句（所有的hardly都可以直接用scarcely代換）：

1. Sitting at the back, I could hardly see the words on the blackboard.
   坐在教室後面，我幾乎看不到黑板上的字（有看到，但看不清楚）
2. I hardly ever go to parties.
   幾乎不參加派對（有去過，但次數很少，可能去的意願不強）
3. I can hardly breathe in here.
   在這裡，我沒辦法呼吸（還是在呼吸，但是很辛苦，幾乎吸不到空氣的感覺）
4. The students hardly pay any attention to what the teacher says.
   這些學生幾乎不聽老師上課（沒有好好用心聽課的意思）

現在，我們來看hardly…when這個句型。我們再來以小偷的句子為例，小偷一看到警察，就逃跑了。仔細深思這句話，我們可以想像，小偷可能才剛瞄到警察，幾乎還沒看清楚，他就反射性地逃了。這就是hardly的味道，幾乎沒看到（有看到，但是沒看清楚）。用英文來表示，兩個動作就是the thief hardly saw the police / the thief ran away。

在動詞時態概念中，敘述兩個發生過的動作，要強調事件先後發生的順序，先發生的事要用過去完成式，後發生用過去簡單式。小偷先瞄到警察，再跑，所以『看到警察』這個動作要用過去完成式，『跑』用過去簡單式。the thief hardly saw the police 要變成the thief had hardly seen the police（hardly是前位副詞，他在句子中的位置和always一樣)，the thief ran away事後發生的事，時態不變。

現在，我們要將兩個句子連成一個句子，依照句子結構原理，要加上連接詞，因為，要表達這兩個動作同時發生，所以用when（當一件事發生時,另一件事也發生了）; 或是，強調一件事在另一件事之前發生，用before也可以。所以合併如下：
The thief had hardly seen the police when he ran away.
The thief had scarcely seen the police before he ran away.

但是，絕對不能用than來連接這兩個句子，為什麼？因為than是比較級的連接詞，前面的句子沒有比較級的字，就不能用than。

接下來，我們用hardly…when/before來代換no sooner …than的例句：

1. The mother had hardly seen her kid when she cried.
2. The students had scarcely heard their favorite song before they got excited.
3. I had hardly seen the cockroaches before I screamed in fear.
4. The fire alarm had scarcely gone off when the shoppers rushed out of the department store.
5. The teacher had hardly got into the classroom when the students stopped talking.

因為hardly跟scarcely都是否定副詞，所以，為了強調，可以將他移到主詞前面，後面改成倒裝句。現在，我們就將上面的句子改成倒裝句。

hardly…when/before的倒裝句：

1. Hardly had the mother seen her kid when she cried.
2. Scarcely had the students heard their favorite song before they got excited.
3. Hardly had I seen the cockroaches before I screamed in fear.
4. Scarcely had the fire alarm gone off when the shoppers rushed out of the department store.
5. Hardly had the teacher got into the classroom when the students stopped talking.

如果你有其他文法上的疑惑，可以到我們『英文文法』專頁，看看有沒有文章探討相關文法問題。