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So, Such & Too

February 27, 2014

I hope this won’t be too difficult for students to understand…

Commonly confused words, whether they look the same, sound the same, or have the same meaning, are the sources of many recurring student errors. I’ve found that many students confuse “so” and “such” because they have the same meaning but a slightly different grammatical function. My students also have trouble with “so” and “too” for the opposite reason—they have the same grammatical function but the meaning is slightly different. It’s a great idea to review these terms with your English learners no matter what level they are at!

So Vs. Such

Meaning

So and such both have the meaning of very or a lot.

Grammatical Function

So comes before an adjective, while such comes before an adjective + noun.

SO + Adjective

SUCH + (article) + Adjective + Noun

Examples

  • That movie was so good.
  • The test was so difficult.
  • It is so cold in my room.
  • My hometown is so beautiful.
  • That was such a good movie.
  • It was such a difficult test.
  • He is such a good soccer player.
  • My new coworkers are such talented people.
Tip

Students often incorrectly use so instead of such. Make sure you remind them that so + Adjective + Noun is impossible (e.g., we can’t say That was so a good movie or That was so good movie).

So Vs. Too

Meaning

So and too both have the meaning of very or a lot, but so is usually used for positive cases, whereas too is used for negative cases. When so and too are both used for negative cases, so usually implies that something was completed or able to be done, while too implies it is incomplete or unable to be done. Too basically means can’t!

So for positive situations, or for negative situations when there is a meaning of completing something
Too for negative situations when there is a meaning of not completing something.

Grammatical Function

So and too both come before an adjective (or adverb).

Examples

  • That book was so interesting. (positive)
  • My cat is so cute. (positive)
  • The wiring is too complicated for me to fix. (negative)
  • It is too tough to guess when this project will be finished. (negative)
  • She finished the test so quickly. (positive)
  • She finished the test too quickly. (negative)
  • That test was so difficult. (negative, meaning is the test was really hard but I finished it)
  • That test was too difficult. (negative, meaning is the test was really hard and I couldn’t finish it)
  • It was so cold. (negative, one possible meaning is I went outside and it was very cold)
  • It was too cold. (negative, one possible meaning is I didn’t go outside because it was very cold)
Tip

Students often use too incorrectly for positive situations. I’ve found it helpful to explain what the meaning with too actually is. For example:

  • The movie was too good means that you were enjoying the movie so much that you couldn’t stand it and had to leave before it was over. This doesn’t really make sense!
  • The pizza was too delicious means that you took a bite of the pizza and decided you couldn’t eat it because it tasted so good. Strange, right?

Note

So, such, and too also have other purposes and functions in English. Feel free to ask about other cases in the comments section below.

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Comments (20)

Tanya Trusler(Author)

If you teach a TOEIC prep class, you might want to mention to your students that 'so/such' is a very common question in Part 5. Just remind them to choose 'such' if there's a noun after it. :)

Reply to Comment

Sabira Fazal (Guest)

Thank you

Mina M.(Student)

It was so useful.

Reply to Comment

Tanya Trusler(Author)

That's great to hear, Mina! Good luck with your studies!

cho ra(Guest)

what a useful information! thankyou in advance for ur great help <3!🤍

Reply to Comment

Tanya Trusler(Author)

Thank you, Cho Ra. I'm glad it was helpful!

Eyedon noenglish(Guest)

This was TOO helpful!! lol

Reply to Comment

Tanya Trusler(Author)

Haha, good one!

Narsinh Sodham(Guest)

Useful information

Reply to Comment

Tanya Trusler(Author)

I'm happy you think so, Narsinh!

Rosanna Gentile(Guest)

Hi :)
If "so" is usually used for positive cases, whereas "too" is used for negative cases, why the song says "I'm too sexy"?
Is it grammatically incorrect or a way to emphasise something?
Thanks :)

Reply to Comment

Tanya Trusler(Author)

Hi Rosanna, great question! That song is being very cheeky because they are indeed saying "I'm too sexy for you/the world" with that negative implication. The meaning in that song is "I'm too sexy, so you won't be able to stand it," if that makes sense! Of course, the "correct" thing to say would be "I'm so sexy," so by saying "I'm too sexy" they're playing with that negative implication and making the meaning even stronger. While it's technically ungrammatical, everyone understands the meaning, so you can chalk it up to "poetic license." I would tell my students that while the song's title/lyric is ungrammatical, their choice does make the meaning funnier and stronger.

Maricela B.(Member)

It was so helpful! You're the best teacher.

Reply to Comment

Tanya Trusler(Author)

Thank you, Maricela. That's such a nice compliment!

Gharen Shimonyan(Guest)

I met in the Bible the following "So great a salvation" (Hebrews 2:3).And it is
a contemporary English . Could you explain this matter?

Reply to Comment

Tanya Trusler(Author)

Hi Gharen, that pattern (so + adjective + article + noun) is very formal and uncommon, but you might encounter it in literature and formal prose. My only tip for knowing that you should use "so" instead of "such" is that "such" would never come between an adjective and an article (i.e., "such great a salvation" is incorrect and impossible).

Fredrick A.(Member)

Heb 2:3;
How shall we escape,so great salvation.......

So + adjective + noun. This is correct. No article in-between .

Reply to Comment

Tanya Trusler(Author)

Hi Fredrick, this excerpt is in very old English. If you look at this site (https://biblia.com/bible/esv/hebrews/2/3), for example, you can see how a lot of different bible versions have translated it as "so great a salvation" and "such a great salvation." It's not correct to say "so great salvation" nowadays unless you're quoting an ancient text.

Fredrick A.(Member)

This was so useful

Reply to Comment

Tanya Trusler(Author)

Thanks, Fredrick! I'm happy to hear that.

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