[so as] not to

AnonymousI did it [so as] not to hurt her anymore

Can we skip [so as] ? Will the sentence be still correct ?

Thank you.

I did it so as not to hurt her anymore ('so as' cannot be removed)

You need "so as."

An equivalent, IMO, is:

I did it to avoid hurting her anymore.

Well, I certainly have heard that sort of construction used (without 'so as'), but I guess you'd most likely find it in more informal English. You'll also hear "I did it to not hurt her anymore."

From Tess of the d'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy:

"No, no, no! I merely did it not to be clipsed or colled, Marian."

Hi everyone,

YankeeYou'll also hear "I did it to not hurt her anymore."

I asked here about a similar thing some time ago. I prefer the version I quoted to the version without the split infinitive. So it seems you can say all of these:

I did it not to hurt her anymore.
I did it to not hurt her anymore.
I did it so as not to hurt

Hi Kooyeen

Yes, there are a variety of ways to express the same thing and some are more common than others. Since the first two posters suggested that 'so as' cannot be omitted, my point was that the structure in the original question is in use.

Some grammars (usually the very prescriptive ones) tell you to neversplit inifinitives (never to split?), but infiniti

YankeeSince the first two posters suggested that 'so as' cannot be omitted, my point was that the structure in the original question is in use.

Hi Yankee

I agree with you. An infinitive can express purpose (WHY?) on its own but it can be made more emphatic by adding either so as or in order:

I bought a dictionary [so

I agree.