So + adjective + uncountable noun
ex) He had so little confidence in his ability to write that he mailed his writings secretly at night to editors
I'm familiar with the structure 'so+adjective+a/an+noun'
ex) It was so warm a day that I could hardly work
But the sentence above have the structure 'so+adj+noun'. Is this possible?
In addition, how about this? Is this correct?
ex) He had such little confidence in his ability to write that he mailed his writings secretly at night to editors
Top answer
Hoony But the sentence above have the structure 'so+adj+noun'. Is this possible? The sentence is correct.
- Hoony But the sentence above have the structure 'so+adj+noun'.
- Is this possible?
- The sentence is correct.
- Little is an adverb in it, not an adjective.
- It describes the amount of confidence he had, not what the confidence was like.
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HoonyBut the sentence above have the structure 'so+adj+noun'. Is this possible?
The sentence is correct. Little is an adverb in it, not an adjective. It describes the amount of confidence he had, not what the confidence was like. Such little confidence is incorrect.
CB
0He had [so / such little confidence in his ability to write that he mailed his writings secretly at night to editors].
It's fine with "so" or "such", either of which can 'license' the underlined content clause.
Note that "little" is not an adjective here, but a determinative -- it determines th
0Hi. I'm a syntactician, not an English teacher. When you say, "so little confidence", "so" modifies "little". The phrase "so little" modifies "confidence". So, yes, "so+adj+noun" is possible in this context. However, "little" is functioning as a quantifier, not as an adjective.
Here are examples that distinguish between quantifier words and adjectives:
"so+
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