help me on understanding "no sooner" in this sentence "Alfred set his alarm clock to ring at six in the morning because he wanted to get up early. it seemed to him that he no sooner (go) to sleep than the alarm (ring)..." can any body help to explain to me what the 2nd sentence means with the phrase "no sooner"?, and For the words in bracket, can you replace them with the correct form of the verbs? thank you n appreciated

difference between "pls be noted" & "pls note"? i've been confused by these uses of the word "note" as said in the subject. Search through some websites, some say as below "Please be noted that prices of commodities have changed rapidly. [you are telling the person to be noted that prices of commodities have changed rapidly. (a notice) ] Please note that prices of commodities have changed rapidly. [you are telling the person to note that prices of commodities have changed rapidly. (an order)]" so here i come for opinions, pls tell me Are they both correct in using "note"?, if so what is the difference?

subtle difference between "be to infinitive" & the simple/past present tense? John went to Spain for a English course, and there he met Janet. They had been dating for 7 months. Before the end of the course, they got married. 1) John met Janet, whom later became his wife, when he was in Spain learning English. 2) John met Janet, whom was later to become his wife, when he was in Spain leaning English. In the book of Advanced English Grammar that i am reading, there says "we use "to be infinitive" to talk about 1) future events that can be controlled by people, 2) official/formal arrangement and/or instructions,3) giving orders", now please help me apprehend sentence #2, and also Is sentence #1 ever correct; if yes, what is the difference in meaning between these sentences to you? thank you

what does "drag on" ("grind on") mean? here's background- uncle Charlie said to his nephew, Jake that "its okay to see other girl while your girlfriend isn't around...", afterwards, Jake took the advice but got busted by his girlfriend when he was hanging out with other girl and got broke up. Jake later put the blame on his uncle, who then said "you are still grinding on it..." i can't relate this, Can sb help, please? :-D

the meaning and usage of "cheesy" and "minx"? for cheesy, spotted the word while watching a British comedic movie, called Hot Fuzz. Got it looked up in online Dict, which says "clearly of cheap qualities or in bad shape". In the movie, while making pictures for public interests in a local high school, the police officer was asked by the photographer to put the teacher in handcuffs ("for fun") for a photograph, the officer refused, then the photographer said "too cheesy-pie, ok, gotcha" Q-i cant get through its meaning exactly in this case, but came up w/ 2 meanings, [1] "too cheesy pie" means that the request (to handcuff the teacher) is too cheap and outrageous. Or [2] the photographer thought the officer was a boring person. By the way, can i say "lousy" and "cheesy" are similar in meaning? Can you give me one more daily example of the usage of the word? for minx, Is the word approving or disapproving, or can be both?

A mixture of past continuous,past simple and past perfect question. Scenario given as following- Something happened yesterday, Peter arrived home late, and so did his girlfriend, Judy. They had a talk, Judy says to Peter "I am seeing someone else...". Peter felt disappointed and betrayed. If I am a narrator and to report this to other people, which of the following sentences is (or could be) correct? #1, Peter felt betrayed the moment his girlfriend told him that she was seeing somebody else. or #2, Peter felt betrayed the moment his... that she has been seeing somebody else. or #2, Peter felt betrayed the moment.....that she had been seeing somebody else.

Do these sentences sound the same or differently to you?(Punctuatioin Question) 1) The boss completely trashed her work, in front of everyone. 2) The boss completely trashed her work in front of every one.If different, what each of them means to be exact?

Am I right in using the article "The" in the following situation? currently, composing my cover letters for job, need some help for correcting my sentence... "...The job also involved (__/the) extensive use of Excel..." Having spent many years learning English, I've found, among all the aspects of English, the application of the article "The" is most annoying and tricky to get along.=.=" there i went wrong again; forgot to put a "the'" before "most"hmm... after re-read my sentence, yes, without the whole context of the subject, one may be misled. Here is the full body of the paragraph containing the sentence in question, please re-advise, if necessary. "I have worked for a foreign-owned semi-conductor company as an assistant accountant before. In this role I have had to recognize and monitor rebate pay-out in regards to a variety of customer accounts, and to keep in contact with distributors/customers for documents that verify the rebate pay-out. Other office duties are but not limited to filing documents, photocopying, faxing, internal inventory auditing and so forth . The post also involved the extensive use of Excel for rebate and sales revenue computation. In the office, I worked with minimal supervision but within a team environment."

Is it rather seen as an offence to say the words "old people" in the Western culture? Real case given as following - My friend is running some private selling of mattresses at home. Whenever customers come by his place, he shows them his stock of mattresses. I have just happened to be next to him a couple times when he was trying to sell off a mattress to some customers. He has a variety of mattresses; some are good for young people, others are good for the elderly. When introducing mattresses, my friend often use the words "old people", e.g. 'this mattress is good for old people because it is more dense and firmer..." In China, we do not mind to hear the words "old people" that much (from my point of view). If this happens in China, the Chinese understand that the elderly are inclined to firm mattresses. Now I am wondering what Western people think of or react to in the situation like this. Will Westerners mind being called or hearing "old people"? How to say, in my friend's case, that a particular mattress that is suitable for the elderly without offending his customers, even if some young customers do like firm mattress?