Will
Hello and welcome to today’s Grammar Gameshow! I’m your host, Will! It rhymes with thrill! And of course, let’s not forget Leslie, our all-knowing voice in the sky.

Leslie
Hello everyone!

Will
Tonight we’re going to ask you three questions about…

Leslie
‘So’ and ‘such’! Those two little intensifiers that allow us to modify adjectives and nouns!

Will
OK! Now, let’s meet our contestants!

Mark
Hi all. My name’s Mark!

Will
And contestant number two?

Selene
It’s nice to meet you. I’m Selene! It’s nice to meet you Mark.

Mark
Oh… thanks. It’s nice to meet you too. I love your blouse.

Selene
Oh thanks! It’s really… kind of you to say.

Will
Yes, yes… alright. Enough fraternising. Nice to see you again Mark. OK. Let’s get going and don’t forget you can play along at home too. Our first round is a find-the-mistake round. Look at these sentences and tell me why they are incorrect! How was your holiday? It was such sunny! It was so a sunny place!

Selene
Oh... I’m sorry… after you.

Mark
No, no, no, no... after you.

Selene
No… after you.

Will
Good grief! Mark. It was you.

Mark
They’re the wrong way around. Don’t we use ‘so’ with adjectives and ‘such’ with noun phrases?

Will
Leslie?

Leslie
Well done! We can use ‘so’ and ‘such’ to emphasise something that we are talking about. We use ‘so’ to emphasise an adjective and ‘such’ to emphasise a noun phrase. It was so sunny. It was such a sunny place.

Will
Good job. Here’s a bonus question: If the thing we emphasise using ‘so’ and ‘such’ causes a reaction, what structure do we need to add?

Selene
We use a ‘that’ clause.

Will
Leslie?

Leslie
Absolutely right! We can add a ‘that’ clause to a ‘so’ or ‘such’ phrase to say that the thing we are emphasising is the reason that something happened!

Will
Well done, Selene. OK. It’s time for a quick-fire round. Complete these ‘so’ and ‘such’ phrases with a ‘that’ clause. The day was so sad…

Selene
…that I couldn’t believe it when I met Mark.

Leslie
Correct!

Will
Err.. OK. She’s such a kind person

Mark
…that you can always ask her for help.

Leslie
Correct!

Will
Yes… quite. I met someone so attractive…

Selene
…that I can’t resist how I feel.

Leslie
Correct!

Will
Focus on the game, please! There was such chemistry…

Mark
…that I couldn’t control myself.

Leslie
Correct.

Will
Alright, stop it now. You’re making everyone ill! Two points each. OK. On to our second round. How can we use ‘so’ and ‘such’ to emphasise a great quantity of something?

Mark
Please, after you…

Selene
I couldn’t possibly…

Mark
As if I could go before you, Selene.

Will
Selene!

Selene
We combine them with ‘much’ and ‘many’.

Will
How about an example?

Mark
Selene has such many points that I could never win.

Will
That answer was totally wrong.

Mark
Was it? I’m sorry I seem to have lost focus.

Will
Stop it! Leslie?

Leslie
When we want to emphasise the quantity of something we can combine ‘so’ with ‘much’ or ‘many’. ‘Much’ is used for uncountable nouns – so much love - and ‘many’ is used for countable nouns – so many hugs. However, we cannot combine ‘such’ with either ‘much’ or ‘many’. That form does not exist.

Will
Alright loverboy. Minus eight points to you. Mark! Selene! Oi! Look at me! On to our last question. Look at these two short dialogues and tell me what the difference is between ‘so’, ‘such’ and ‘very’.

Leslie
You are very late. I’m sorry I’m so late. I missed the bus. We had a very good time. Why do you think you had such a good time?

Selene
Oh, third time! I’m sorry.

Mark
It must be destiny.

Will
You’re making the audience sick! Selene, you go!

Selene
Well, all three are being used to emphasise something, so… I’m not sure. Maybe Marky knows…he’s so clever.

Will
His name’s Mark!

Mark
Thanks Seleney. In the first line of each dialogue, the speaker introduces a new idea. In the second, the person emphasises the same idea…so it’s something to do with new information and known information.

Will
Leslie?

Leslie
Well done…Marky. ‘So’, ‘such’ and ‘very’ can emphasise, but we usually use ‘very’ when giving new information and ‘so’ or ‘such’ to emphasise information that is already known.

Will
Well done. Have seven points between you.

Mark
Oh, no. You can have them Selene.

Selene
No, you can have them Mark.

Mark
No, you.

Selene
No, you.

Will
Oh, let it end already. Well, that brings us to the end of today’s Grammar Gameshow. Let’s count out the points. And the winner is… up to you. Mark… Selene… one of you has to lose. Who’s it going to be?

Mark
I’ll lose… let her win.

Selene
No… Mark you can’t!

Mark
My darling… it is a far better thing I do, than I have ever done before.

Will
Alright. You chose. Watch out for the elephants! It looks like we’ll need another contestant. And Selene, well done to you. Here’s what you’ve won.

Leslie
It’s a tandem bicycle! Perfect for taking long rides with your lover.

Selene
I’ll never love again!

Will
That’s the spirit. We’ll see you again next week, where you can play for another prize. Thanks for joining us. Say goodbye Leslie

Leslie
Ciao, Leslie

Will
See you next time. Wave Selene. Wave and smile!

______________________________________________________________________________________

Did you like that? Why not try these?

________________________________________________________________________________________________

So and Such

Emphasis
'So' and 'such' can be used to emphasise an adjective or noun phrase in a sentence. We use 'so' to emphasise an adjective, and 'such' to emphasise a noun phrase. With a noun phrase, don't forget to include the article and remember that you can still use an adjective before the noun! Finally, in order to say that the thing being emphasised caused a reaction, we use a 'that' clause.

Thank you. It's been such a beautiful day.
It was such a beautiful day that we couldn't resist going out for ice-cream.
She said she had never been so insulted in her life.
She was so insulted that she left the house immediately.

Quantity
We can combine 'so' with 'much' or 'many' to emphasise the quantity of something. 'So much' is used for uncountable nouns and 'so many' is used for countable nouns. Again, an adjective can be used before the noun if required, and a 'that' clause can be added to talk about the effect of the number of items. There is no 'such much' or 'such many'.

The fountain was beautiful. We just drank so much fresh water.
They drank so much fresh water that they needed to sit down from being too heavy.
The first time she went to a city, she felt overwhelmed. She'd never seen so many busy people.
There were so many busy people that it was nearly impossible to cross the street.

So, such and very
'So', 'such' and 'very' can all be used to emphasise information. However, 'very' tends to be used to emphasise information that is new to the conversation or context. 'So' and 'such' are used to empahasise already established or known information.

A: How was your trip to the zoo?
B: It was certainly very interesting.
A: Why was it so interesting?
B: Well, frankly I've never seen a monkey play a trumpet. That's what was so interesting about it all.

To do

Try our quiz to see how well you've learned today's language.

For a better experience please enable Javascript in your browser

Accessibility links

Learning English

Inspiring language learning since 1943

Unit 1: The Grammar Gameshow
Test your grammar knowledge

Session 15

Sessions in this unit

Session 15 score

Activity 1

Episode 14: So and such