Learn English Grammar: How to use SO & SO THAT

Hi. Welcome again to www.engvid.com. My name's Adam. Today's lesson is a grammar lesson,

and it's about words or expressions that are very often confused or mixed up. We're going

to look at "so", "so that", "so something that", usually "so adjective", or: "so adverb

that". I can actually put that in here. Adjective, adverb, that.

So, before we look at what usually gets mixed up, and how the things get mixed up, and the

confusions, let's do a quick review of what all of these expressions or words mean, or

how they are used. We're going to start with "so". Now, "so" has quite a few functions,

quite a few uses in grammar. One is to agree. Okay? So you say: "I love English." That's

why you come to engVid. Right? "So do I. I love English, that's why I come to engVid

as well." So I agree with you. "So do I."

To refer to. -"I think that something is beautiful. I think that that woman is beautiful." -"Well,

if you think so, you should go talk to her." "So" means referring to what I just said.

"If you think so. If you think she is beautiful, go speak to her." Right? So, "so" is sort

of like a pronoun, but not exactly. It's referring to something. It stands in the place of something

that was already mentioned and understood.

As a quantifier. As a quantifier, basically, "so" means "very". "I am so hungry." Means

I am very hungry. Okay? All we do is we quantify it. We give a quantity to the adjective. We

make it stronger, more intense, "very".

"So much", "so many" just means a lot. "So few" means a few, very little. Right? So,

this is basically used like an adverb. We can use it "so much" or "so many noun". We

can say: "So much", "so many adjective and noun". So, we use this as an adverb. And again,

it's like a quantifier; I'm just giving you more quantity or less quantity, or more degree

or less degree.

Now, this is the one we want to focus on, "so" as a conjunction, because this is what

gets confused with these two. Okay? So, "so" as a conjunction, basically we use it like...

Like "because", except "because" is an adverb clause conjunction. We use an adverb clause.

"So" is just an independent clause joining two... Oh, sorry, it's a coordinating clause

joining two independent clauses. Okay? So: "I was late, so I missed the meeting." It

basically shows you a result of something that came before. You could say: "Because...

Because I missed..." Sorry. "Because I was late, I missed the meeting.", "I was late,

so I missed the meeting." So this is a coordinating conjunction joining two independent clauses,

and talks... Shows you result. So far, so good.

That's another expression. "So far" means until now.

"So that", "so that" is an adverb clause marker or an adverb clause conjunction. It shows

purpose. Okay? Remember: an adverb clause joins two actions, in the independent clause,

and in the adverb clause, and it's the relationship between the clauses is purpose. So, whatever

comes after "so that" shows the purpose of what you did in the previous clause. Here's

an example. "I worked overtime this week"-why?-"so that I could take time off next week." Okay?

So, this is the purpose of this. Okay? Remember: adverb clause, there's always going to be

a relationship between the adverb clause and the independent clause.

Okay? That relationship is one of purpose.

Lastly, we have "so adjective", "so adverb that". Now, this is a bit of a combination

of the two. You have a quantifier, so you're making this very something, and you want to

give a little bit extra information. What does this mean? Right? You want to complete

the meaning of this. Okay? Let's look at this example. I'm going to go right through that

one. "I am so tired that I might pass out." Pass out, faint. Okay? Now, I could say:

"I am so tired." This is a complete sentence; you don't need anymore. I have the quantifier,

I have the adjective, I've completed my meaning.

But I want you to understand how tired I am. "Very tired" is not enough. I want you to

understand more. I want to complete this meaning, so I add another clause. We call this a "that

clause", a complement clause. It completes the meaning. "I am so tired that I might pass

out." Okay? That's how tired I am.

Now, you notice I put "that" in brackets. In these types of sentences, "that" you can

take out. "I am so tired I might pass out." It's understood. The point is: don't confuse

this "so" with this "so", conjunction. This is not a conjunction. It is also not a quantifier.

It is a quantifier, but it's not part of that, it's not part of this guy. Okay?

Now... Now we understand all these things. The question is: how do these get confused

and how can you avoid confusing these? Let's look at some examples.

Okay, so let's look at some examples of some sentences that might be a little bit confusing

when we're using these expressions. But before we look at these sentences, for all you sharp

eyed viewers out there, you may have noticed that I made a mistake with the word "quantifier",

I wrote "quantier". Okay? Let me just make sure everybody understands it's "quantifier",

add the "fi" to the one you saw before, and we're good to go.

Okay, now, let's look at some example sentences using each of these expressions. "Bill worked

hard, so he was promoted." Promoted means given a higher title or a better position

in the company. "Bill worked hard so that he would be promoted.", "Bill worked so hard

that he had to be promoted." Now, each of these sentence is grammatically correct, and

each one has its own meaning. The meanings are different. Okay? They're related, but

they're different. Let's look at each one separately.

"Bill worked hard." The result of this hard work was that he was promoted. Okay? What...?

Because he worked hard, he was promoted. Okay? Hard work, promotion is the result. Good.

"Bill worked hard so that he would be promoted." Now, Bill wants to be the president of the

company. How will he become the president? He will work hard. So, he worked hard because

he wanted to be promoted. He would be. Okay? This was the purpose for this. This was the

result of this. So, you notice, we have the same verb and adverb, same verb and adverb.

This was the result of this, this was why he did this.

"Bill worked so hard that he had to be promoted." Okay? What does it mean "had to"? It means

the company had to give him a promotion because he worked harder than everyone else. So, he

almost left them no choice. Okay? "Bill worked so hard". Everybody worked hard, but Bill

worked so hard... They need to complete the meaning of "so hard", that he had to be given

a promotion. Okay? He had to be promoted to complete this meaning, "so hard".

So now you see the differences between them. But wait, let's look at another example. I

want to show you something else.

"Jill is smart, so all the boys like her." Okay? Boys like smart girls. Jill is smart.

The result of her being smart, they like her. Because she's smart, they like her. This is

her situation. Notice I have a "be" verb here.

"Jill studies regularly so that she can beat the boys." Jill is very determined, she's

very ambitious, she wants to be better than the boys. So, she studies regularly. Why?

So that she can beat the boys, get a better position or do better on tests.

One thing you must realize right away or notice right away is that, here, I'm using an active

verb. I don't... I can't use a "be" verb. Why? Because I'm using an adverb clause that

has a relationship with an active verb, with an action. There's a relationship, so I have

to use an active verb here.

Here, I'm back to the "be" verb. "Jill is so smart", Jill is very, very smart. Okay.

So? "That all the boys are afraid of her." She's so smart that she scares the boys, or

that the boys are afraid of her. This completes the meaning of this. If you say: "She's so

smart." Well, lots of girls are very smart. Right? "But she's so smart that all the boys

are afraid." Other girls are very smart, but the boys are not afraid of them. She's so

smart that they're afraid.

Now, one thing you can also notice here: "Bill worked hard so he would be promoted." I can

take out that because I have a subject. This is understood. "Bill worked so hard he had

to be promoted.", "Jill studies regularly so she can beat the boys.", "Jill is so smart

all the boys are afraid of her." Okay? In all these cases, you can take out "that",

it's understood. There are many examples of clauses that you can take out the conjunction

"that" or the pronoun "that" because you have your subject, you have your subject, you have

your subject. So that "that" can come out. The only thing is don't confuse this "so"

with this "so", or this "so", or this "so". Each one has its own purpose.

But now, why is this important to understand? In writing, you have to be correct in the

way you use the word "so", or "so that", or "so adjective/adverb that". Here, by the way,

"so smart", adjective; "so hard", "worked so hard", adverb. Both okay. Adjective, adverb

with "so". In writing, it makes a big difference in the meaning of the sentence. If I'm reading

a sentence and I see: "so smart", I'm expecting a clause to follow. If one doesn't and a period

doesn't, then I get confused. Okay? In speaking, you can get away with it. In writing, you can't.

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