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Ask for help > can "so" mean "very"?
can "so" mean "very"?
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chenchen_castrourdiales
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can "so" mean "very"?
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Hi there,
Once more I need your valuable knowledge. One of my students is gonna sit the FCE in June. In her compositions she always uses "so" meaning "very". I �ll give you an example from her last composition: ... "Every year we go to the festivals of this village because we always have a great time and people from there are so friendly."
She tells me I am the only one who corrects her this word in her compositions. As far as I know, the use of the word "so" in this sentence is wrong. Instead she should use other intensifiers such as "pretty / quite / extremely / rather / very/ ..." we use "so" to give the result of sth as in "she was so interested in passing her exam that she studied really hard." Apart from that, I told her that when "so" is followed by an adjective, as in the sentence I have written above, I expect the sentence to continue. Am I right or wrong? Can we use "so" meaning "very"?
Thanks in advance. |
4 Mar 2011
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edrodmedina
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I �m so glad you asked this question. I �ve heard so used this way all my life. |
4 Mar 2011
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almaz
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Yes, �so � can be an intensifier (or a scalar particle, I suppose). Ask Kylie Minogue (she should be so lucky) or Mick and Keef (maybe she is, maybe she isn �t so cold...).
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4 Mar 2011
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yanogator
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Actually, Chenchen, you are right, but your student is, too. You aren �t seeing that the sentence does "continue", but the order is reversed. Think of rewriting your student �s sentence as "The people are so friendly, that we go to their festivals every year." The idea is exactly the same, but the order of the clauses is reversed. So, you are right that we use "so" as an intensifier only if there is a result of it, but the result can be given first. It is very hot today. (Not "It is so hot today") It is so hot, that I don �t want to go out. or I don �t want to go out because it is so hot. As an additional note, in casual usage, we sometimes say "It is so hot today", because some consequence is implied. I hope this is clearer now. Bruce |
4 Mar 2011
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almaz
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No, Bruce, Chenchen is wrong when she says �the use of the word "so" in this sentence is wrong�. As you �ve just suggested, there �s nothing wrong grammatically or syntactically with so - with or without a �continuance�, as you put it.
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4 Mar 2011
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tulpen25
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Can we use "so" meaning "very"?
Yup!
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5 Mar 2011
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paddyofarrell
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I �m so tired!
Here we are using �so � in an exclamatory sentence, where the result is unspoken, but understood: I �m so tired that I want to go to bed.
In spoken English, the word stress is important. �I �m very tired � is just a fact, stating your condition.
�I �m so tired � with an emphasis on �so � includes an unspoken clause that should be understood from context.
Therefore, �so � and �very � are similar, but not the same. They are not interchangeable without the correct sentence stress.
I think.
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5 Mar 2011
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