SO and SUCH
I am SO happy!
- There are SO many clouds in the sky!
- There are SO few cars on the road today.
- He speaks SO quickly!
- It is SUCH a wonderful book!
- She is SUCH a genius!
- He has never heard SUCH nonsense!
SO with an ADJECTIVE
We can use SO with an adjective to express extremes. This form is often used in exclamations.
- The music is so loud!
- The dinner was so good!
- The painting is so beautiful!
SO with an ADVERB
We use SO with an adverb to express extreme actions. This form is also used in exclamations.
- She walks so quickly!
- He sings so well!
- They speak so slowly!
SO with MANY and FEW
We can use SO with MANY and FEW with plural nouns to express extremes in amount. This form is often – but not always – used in exclamations.
- You have so many computers!
- There are so many dogs in the park today.
- There are so few chairs in this shopping center!
- There are so few items on sale this month.
- There were so many children at the party!
- There are so few cookies in the jar!
SO with MUCH and LITTLE
and non-countable nouns
We can use SO with MUCH and LITTLE with non-countable nouns to express extremes in amount. This form is also often – but not always – used in exclamations.
- Susan has so much free time today!
- There is so little cake left!
SO with MUCH, LITTLE, OFTEN, RARELY
We can use SO with MUCH, LITTLE, OFTEN, and RARELY to express how much or how often someone/something does an action. This form is also used in exclamations.
- They sleep so much when they are on vacation.
- My cousins visit us so rarely!
- She checks her phone so often to see if she has messages.
- He eats so little!
- It snowed so much last night!
SUCH with an ADJECTIVE and a NOUN
We can use SUCH with an adjective and a noun to express emphasis and extremes. This form is often – but not always – used in exclamations.
- They bought such a large boat!
- She writes such interesting essays!
- We have such a big house!
- It was such a good movie!
SUCH for EMPHASIS and JUDGEMENT
We use SUCH with judgemental nouns. They can express something positive or negative. This form is often used in exclamations.
- She’s such a genius!
- She’s such an idiot! (Not nice!)
SO for EMPHASIS and JUDGEMENT
We use SO with judgemental adjectives. They can express something positive or negative. This form is often used in exclamations.
- He’s so intelligent!
- He’s so stupid! (Not nice!)
SUCH with a NOUN
to express this kind of … or this type of …
- The teacher rarely sees such writing.
this/that kind of writing - He doesn’t deserve such criticism.
this/that kind of criticism - Such people are not worth your time!
this/that kind of person/people
SO and SUCH with THAT
Tip: Using THAT is optional!
We can use SO and SUCH with THAT to express results. THAT is optional. The choice is yours!
- The music is so loud that I can’t sleep.
- The music is so loud I can’t sleep.
- She walks so quickly that I cannot walk beside her.
- She walks so quickly I cannot walk beside her.
- There were so many children at the party that we ran out of chips.
- There were so many children at the party we ran out of chips.
Try the confusing words quiz!
