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Subject:RE: Grammar: "So" as a modifier From:Chris Gooch <chris -dot- gooch -at- lightworkdesign -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Mon, 10 Oct 2005 10:43:45 +0100
I was thinking maybe I was being just being stuffy and British,
or perhaps is just that it sounds way so like y'know from Friends,
but this use of so is.... well, just so wrong / informal.
To my ear, there is an implied that. "He's so tall.... that he's
the first to know when it rains". I _cannot_ not hear the
implied that clause, you wait, wait, wait.. and then it's left
hanging in the air.
As a comparison, try the sentence "I was equally pleased".
Equally pleased as what? You can only use this if the
context provides a comparison. "So" operates in a similar way,
it implies there is some context hanging around somewhere.
I'm sure this is a losing battle though and we'll all soon
be happily using this and also the antipodean / estuarine
interrogative. But it would still grate, to me, if I saw it in
a technical manual instead of an Australian soap opera.
So... that's that. I'm so relieved, yeah?
Christopher Gooch, Technical Author
LightWork Design, Sheffield, UK.
www.lightworkdesign.com
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