Use of no sonner.

Hi,

I think it will take you less time to search it in google, than wait for the answer here.

Firstly, it is a comparatives of "soon", so you must use "than" with it. I know two way of using "no longer".

no sooner than something : not before a certain point of time.

Ex : This report will be done no sooner than next week.

no sooner do A than do

'No sooner than' basically means 'at the same time that'. It can be used with any verb tense.

Hi Mister Micawber,

Can it be really used with the future tense?

This example is really in the present, though "will" is used.

No sooner will he arrive than he will want to leave.

I read in some books that it use only with the past and present tense. May be those books are backward. Please give me some answer.

Thanks.

Hi James,
How do you usually form the future, if you don't use "will"?

I mean, in my sentence, events happen in the present, not in the future. As I said, in some grammar books I read, the structure "no sooner ... than" is not used in the future (not used to talk about something really happen in the future). I also said, may be they are outdated, so I need your help to verify them.

Thanks.

The 'will' sentence you gave earlier could possibly be conceived of as present intent, but obvious future tenses can easily be constructed: No sooner will I arrive in Tokyo tomorrow than I will seek out a Starbucks. This is merely a statement of future fact as assessed from the present.