word choice - Are "so" and "so that" interchangeable?


A book suggests that we should not interchange "so" and "so that". "So" means "therefore", and "so that" means "in order that". However, it seems to me that in many cases they don't actually have a difference. For example:



Alice got up at 5:00 A.M., so that she could drive her son to school.



If I substitute "so that" with "so", this sentence presents the exact same causal relation to me:



Alice got up at 5:00 A.M., so she could drive her son to school.



I must have missed something here, since English is my second language. Could somebody explain the difference?



Answer



If you are wondering about the difference between the two sentences, the first states Alice's reason for waking up early, while the second implies that she was successful in her intention.


This is not a distinction always observed by native speakers.


It is confusing, because "so" (when used as a conjunction) can mean "therefore" or can be an abbreviated form of "so that" (meaning "in order that.") In this way "so" has two distinct but similar meanings.


Subjectively I would say that using "so" in place of "so that" sounds a little informal and maybe a tiny bit childish, but is fine in conversational contexts.


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