Hi everybody.
This is shuma from japan and you are listening to everybody esl.
Welcome to episode 435 of Everybody ESL, the podcast for everybody who wants to improve their English, practice their English or just learn more English.
My name is Ben and I have a mini episode for you today where I am going to teach you about one English topic.
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Okay, let's get on with this mini-episode.
In this episode, I am going to teach you a very important and common construction.
We can think of this as a so that construction.
So that.
Because it uses the words so and that.
Let me give you a couple of sentences that use this construction.
That movie was so boring that I fell asleep.
Here's another one.
He is so rich. that he has three cars.
He is so rich that he has three cars.
And let me give you one more.
They go to the restaurant so often that the waiters already know what they're going to order.
They go to the restaurant so often that the waiters already know what they are going to order.
In all three of these sentences, we see this phrase, so, and then an adjective or an adverb, that.
So boring that.
So rich that.
So often that.
This is what we see in this construction.
So, and then an adjective or an adverb, and that.
What does it mean?
What does it mean to say so boring that, or so rich that, or so often that?
It can be a little bit difficult to explain this.
Let me try to explain how we use this construction and what it means.
Let's look at that first sentence.
The movie was so boring that I fell asleep.
What does this mean?
It means because the movie was very boring, the result is I fell asleep.
Because the movie was very boring, I fell asleep as a result.
Or the movie was boring enough to cause me to fall asleep.
The movie was boring enough that it had this result.
I fell asleep.
The movie was so boring that I fell asleep.
The same explanation can work with those other sentences.
He is so rich that he owns three cars.
That means he is rich enough that he can own three cars.
Or because he is very, very rich, he owns three cars.
You can make sentences like this with adjectives and adverbs when you want to say that somebody or something is so much a certain way that it has this result.
That's what this so that construction is for.
It's talking about the result of being very, very something.
Very, very tired.
Very, very boring.
Doing something very, very often.
It works with adjectives and adverbs.
Let me give you one more example and see if you can understand what this means before I explain it.
The exam was so difficult that even the best students got a poor grade.
The exam was so difficult that even the best students got a poor grade.
What does this mean?
What do you think this so that construction is telling us?
This sentence means the exam was very, very difficult and, as a result, Even the best students got a poor grade.
Or, this exam was difficult enough to have this result.
Even the best students got a poor grade.
How difficult was the exam?
It was so difficult that this was the result.
One last thing I want to say about this construction.
You will often hear people leave out that when they use this construction.
This has a very casual and informal feeling. and it sounds very conversational.
You will hear people say things like, the movie was so boring, I fell asleep.
The movie was so boring, I fell asleep.
Instead of saying, the movie was so boring that I fell asleep.
And that is this, so that construction, a very important piece of grammar that I think you should know.
This is the end of episode 435 of Everybody ESL.
Remember if you have questions about English, or if you have comments for me, or if you would like to record an introduction that I can play at the beginning of future episodes.
The same way, Shuma recorded the introduction you heard at the beginning of this episode.
Send an email to everybodyesl at gmailcom.
I'll be back soon with a new episode.
And until then, keep going, keep practicing, and keep learning.
I'll see you soon.
Goodbye.
