'such that'

Question

a) Set the bottles up such that they are in a straight line and have about an inch between each one. I read the above sentence and thought the use of 'such that' here didn't agree with the following link's discussion about its use.http://www2.yukawa.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~ptpwww/eng-note/e-note.html "such that" is used in the modification of nouns. It is usually used to mean something like ``of a type that":"Is the sentence therefore wrong? Or is this yet another use of such that, perhaps?What about these? Both OK?b) The tidal wave was such that it killed over one hundred habitants of the island.c) The size of the tidal wave was such that it killed over one hundred habitants of the island.Thanks

Mr Wordy · Accepted Answer

For the purposes of discussing "such that", the use of the expression is OK in all three sentences. (However, (b), while grammatical, seems kind of redudant. Why not just say "The tidal wave killed..."? (c) could also be written more simply, and "it" seems to refer incorrectly to "size" rather than "tidal wave". "habitants" should be "inhabitants".)

Anyway. There seem to be two slightly different uses of "such that" here. In (b) and (c), where "such that" follows a form of the verb "be", it introduces a description of the nature or characterstics of something (roughly your "of a type that"). In (a), on the other hand, it introduces a description of a desired outcome -- something that is to be achieved. In the latter sense, but not the former, it can be replaced by "so that".

English 1b3 · Answer

Thanks.

First, my dictionary states 'habitants' is synonymous to inhabititants. I used the former intentionally, because I had a feeling there would be disagreement over this.

Second, can you think of examples where there is no redundancy, when 'such that' is used like b and c?

Mr Wordy · Answer

English 1b3First, my dictionary states 'habitants' is synonymous to inhabititants.

Right, I didn't know that. I think it must be rare.

English 1b3I used the former intentionally, because I had a feeling there would be disagreement over this.

That seems a strange reason!

English 1b3
Second, can you think of examples where there is no redundancy, when 'such that' is used like b and c?Actually, I guess "such that" in (c) isn't so very redundant. When I read it, it immediately struck me that one could more easily say "The tidal wave was so large that ...", but I guess any sentence can be reworded one way or another, and reducing every sentence to its simplest form would impoverish our world.

Anyway, these seem good uses to me (randomly Googled):

"The situation was such that she needed the advice of a physician."

"The condition of the mattress I found in the cell was such that I objected to its further use"

"At his peak, his influence was such that his opinion of a product could often make or break it"

English 1b3 · Answer

Mr Wordy
English 1b3I used the former intentionally, because I had a feeling there would be disagreement over this.
That seems a strange reason!

I'll re-iterate. I used it because I wanted to know whether it was common or uncommon.

Yeah, your examples seem good to me too. Thanks.

'such that'

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