Question

Combine the sentences correctly using 'so...that':
He is tall. He does not fit in the car.

• A. He is tall so that he does not fit in the car.
• B. He is so tall that he does not fit in the car.
• C. He is so that tall, he does not fit in the car.
• D. So he is tall that he does not fit in the car.

Answer 1

Answer: (B)

He is so tall that he does not fit in the car.

A conjunction combines or connects two sentences as one. They can be a word or a phrase (like even if, as well as, etc). Correlative conjunctions are words in pairs that connect two sentences, but they're not written together, for example, either...or, but...and, such...that etc, where there's a word or phrase in between the pair. 'So that' and 'so...that' have different meanings. 'So that' refers to purpose, it expresses the reason for which an action is carried out, as in 'I left early so that I could attend the party'. The given sentence does not focus on purpose, but the result, his being tall prevented him from fitting in the car, the position of 'so...that' determines the meaning of the sentence. 'So' is placed before 'tall' to express the result "not fit in the car" of being "tall". The option with the correct sentence is Option B, as it has the required placement of 'so' and 'that'. They should not be placed together, as in options A and C, in A, the sentence expresses the purpose of being tall, so he does not fit in the car, but it's incorrect in terms of grammar as well as logic. In C, the sentence is grammatically incorrect, emphasizing on the action of his being "He is", hence these are both incorrect. Sentences that begin with 'so' refer to a cause and are usually a continuation of the previous sentence, as in 'She couldn't take the stress anymore. So, she left her job'. The sentence here does not focus on the cause, but the effect or result. Hence option D is incorrect.