Intensifiers: 'so' and 'such'

Intensifiers: 'so' and 'such'

Do you know how to use the words so and such? Test what you know with interactive exercises and read the explanation to help you.

Look at these examples to see how so and such are used.

She's so interesting!
This is such an interesting book.
A new phone costs so much money these days.
Traffic in the city centre is such a nightmare!

Try this exercise to test your grammar.

Grammar test 1

'so' and 'such': Grammar test 1

Read the explanation to learn more.

Grammar explanation 

We can use so and such to intensify adjectives, adverbs and nouns.

Adjectives and adverbs

We can use so with an adjective or adverb to make it stronger.

It's so hot today!
She looks so young in that photo.
He walks so slowly. It's so annoying!

If we are using the comparative form of the adjective or adverb, we use so much to make it stronger.

They were so much more innocent when they were younger.
I work so much more quickly when I can concentrate.

Nouns

With a noun or adjective + noun, we use such to make it stronger. 

You're such an angel!
It's such a hot day today!
They're such lovely trousers. Where did you buy them?

However, when we use much, many, little and few with a noun, we use so to make it stronger.

There are so many people here!
I've had so little time to myself this week.

Saying the result

We often use these so and such structures with that and a clause to say what the result is.

It was so cold that the water in the lake froze.
He was such a good teacher that we all passed the exam.
There's so much noise that I can't think!

Do this exercise to test your grammar again.

Grammar test 2

'so' and 'such': Grammar test 2

Language level

Average: 4.1 (56 votes)
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Profile picture for user Rafaela1

Submitted by Rafaela1 on Wed, 29/04/2020 - 14:30

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I think I’ve heard people saying “so and so” or “such and such”. Am I right? Does anyone know what they mean?

Hello Rafaela1,

Yes, you are correct.

So and so is used to describe people when we don't want to or can't name them. Such and such is used in the same way for things.

You can see examples in the dictionary entries for each:

http://www.learnersdictionary.com/definition/such%20and%20such

http://www.learnersdictionary.com/definition/so-and-so

 

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Submitted by josefinaroldan on Wed, 15/04/2020 - 20:47

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Today I studied Reported Speech and So and Such to further strengthen the language and thus learn more about these topics.

Submitted by mukuljain on Mon, 06/04/2020 - 13:49

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Hello all, In this sentence what is excited, I mean adverb or adjective. Can anyone help me with this. 1. I'm so excited about my trip to Canada! Thanks
Profile picture for user Kirk Moore

Submitted by Kirk Moore on Mon, 06/04/2020 - 18:21

In reply to by mukuljain

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Hello mukuijain

It's an adjective -- it modifies 'I'. 

All the best

Kirk

The LearnEnglish Team

Submitted by Mazhavi on Fri, 27/03/2020 - 18:40

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The support material is very good and it helped me to review the topic that I had already seen in class and brought new knowledge. I quite liked and being able to have the correct answers is a great help to correct our mistakes and learn.

Submitted by Ivonne Pérez on Fri, 27/03/2020 - 04:32

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This is a simple topic, but so interesting because show us how we can expose ourselves in a better way. And I can learned the difference between this two words and their correct use.

Submitted by dominicvanbuuren on Fri, 27/03/2020 - 02:19

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I really learned a lot about topics like "Reported Speech" (which personally I find kind of difficult because of the convertions with the different tenses), and "So & Such". This website is such a great tool for those who want to measure their level, it has several exercises classified by levels of learning. I'm glad of discovering this site!

Submitted by Axel288 on Wed, 25/03/2020 - 03:25

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I learned a lot about this topic. Now I can identify how to use ´So´& ´Such´, for example: Im so sad because I can´t see my firend because of Covid-19 :(