What does the sentence "hardly had he got into the room when the phone rang." indeed mean? He answered the phone or not?
What it means?
The sentence doesn't specify whether he has answered the phone or not.
= He'd only just gone in the room, when the phone rang
or
= just as he entered the room, the phone rang
etc. etc.
Hope that helps :)
Ben.
= He'd only just gone in the room, when the phone rang
or
= just as he entered the room, the phone rang
etc. etc.
Hope that helps :)
Ben.
Agree with Ben. Also, two synonyms which could be used for "hardly" in this case are "barely" and "scarcely." (English has lots of words that mean the same thing!)
Finally, no biggy but JJM is right re: "What does it mean?" - but that's according to the rules of English grammar . In German and the Romance languages you can say the equivalent of "What it means" e.g . German Wass bedeutet?, Spanish ¿Qué significa?, Romanian Ce înseamnã etc.
Finally, no biggy but JJM is right re: "What does it mean?" - but that's according to the rules of English grammar . In German and the Romance languages you can say the equivalent of "What it means" e.g . German Wass bedeutet?, Spanish ¿Qué significa?, Romanian Ce înseamnã etc.
The expression means that the phone rang almost immediately after he entered the room, with the delay represented by "almost immediately" being rather subjective depending on the context.