Does ',so that clause' mean purpose or reseult here?

Question

The device can also be operated via remote control, so that users can avoid dangers on busy roads.Does ',so that clause' mean purpose or reseult here?I have learned that 'so that' with a comma in front of it carries result but 'so that' with auxiliary verbs like can , may, etc and without a comma carries purpose.Is this true?And then what does the sentence carry?Or for meaning of result , can auxiliary verbs also be used?What do yo native English speakers think? Thank you so much as usual!

BillJ · Accepted Answer

The device can also be operated via remote control, so that users can avoid dangers on busy roads.

It’s a purpose adjunct. It’s about doing something in order to make something (the adjunct) happen. Here the act of operating the device via remote control is performed in order that users can avoid dangers on busy roads.

Both purpose and result adjuncts can be expressed by means of a “so that” PP, so it can be a bit confusing. It is true that when the adjunct is the PP “so (that)” + finite clause, there is usually (but not always) a modal auxiliary like “might” or “can” to be found, as in “Open the wine so that it can breathe”, and in your example, too.

Result adjuncts - the kind that generally express the result or consequence of an earlier event – occur freely without modal auxiliaries, but they can sometimes be found, as in:

“Ed had failed the health check, so that the operation could not go ahead as planned”.

Result adjuncts do tend to be detached in speech, but in writing a comma is not a foolproof guide.

There are a few other differences; for example, unlike purpose adjuncts with “so that”, result adjuncts cannot be preposed to the beginning of the clause; they are limited to the end of the clause.

BillJ

Does ',so that clause' mean purpose or reseult here?

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