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Hans51 Posted 10 years ago
Grammar

I was excited, so that I couldn't get to sleep.

I was excited, so that I couldn't get to sleep.

He got up early, so that he could catch the first train.

I know that so that clauses can be interpreted in two ways: purpose or result and this sentence is interpreted as a purpose. "Talk louder so that I can hear you."

And then I was wondering the two sentences should be interpreted as a purpose just because there are auxiliary verbs like could or those sentences with could can be interpreted as a result?

I feel like those sentence above mean results.

What do you native English speakers think? Thank you so much as usual in advance!
  

Top answer

Hans51 I was excited, so that I couldn't get to sleep. In a very unusual interpretation, someone else could deliberately excite you with the purpose of keeping you awake. In a normal interpretation ("excited" is adjectival) it does not express purpose.

— GPY

  • Hans51 I was excited, so that I couldn't get to sleep.
  • In a very unusual interpretation, someone else could deliberately excite you with the purpose of keeping you awake.
  • In a normal interpretation ("excited" is adjectival) it does not express purpose.
  • "excited" is something that happens to you, not something that you deliberately bring about.
  • Also, not being able to get to sleep is not normally a desired outcome.
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3 Answers
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Hans51I was excited, so that I couldn't get to sleep.
In a very unusual interpretation, someone else could deliberately excite you with the purpose of keeping you awake. In a normal interpretation ("excited" is adjectival) it does not express purpose. "excited" is something that happens to you, not something that you deliberately bring about. Also, not being a
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By the way, I forgot to mention also that for the "result" meaning, first sentence would more usually be written "I was excited, so I couldn't get to sleep".
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Hans51I know that so that clauses can be interpreted in two ways: purpose or result
Not really. "so" by itself (meaning 'therefore" and typically preceded by a comma) would be used to show a result.

He didn't give me his number, so I couldn't call him.
(result: I was unable to call him.)
He didn't give me his number so that I could
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