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  • 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.

  • Now, if you have any questions about this, go to www.engvid.com and ask me, and I will

  • be happy to answer any questions. Do the quiz there as well. Subscribe to my channel on YouTube.

  • And, of course, come back. See us again. Bye.

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

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