Learn English Grammar: How to use SO & SO THAT

Are you SO confused about when to use “so” or “so that”? In this grammar lesson, we will look at when and how to use “so”, “so that” and “so _____ that”. After watching the video, test your knowledge by doing the quiz SO THAT you can evaluate how much you understand. You’ll be SO amazed THAT you’ll want to subscribe to my YouTube channel!
Take the quiz here! http://www.engvid.com/english-grammar-so-that/

TRANSCRIPT

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?

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