Usage of so that

Question

1. He studied hard so that he passed the exam. ( so that result )

2. He goes to bed early so that he can get up early. ( so that purpose )

I know that there are two kinds of so that usage and I am wondering which one it is.

‘I hope this pandemic passes soon so that people can come out and enjoy the beauty of spring.’

Here in the sentence, usage of so that is result or purpose?

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

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

Hans511. He studied hard so that he passed the exam. ( so that result )

OK. Most of the time we omit "that" for "so that" of result. Then we use a comma like this:

He studied hard, so he passed the exam.

Hans512. He goes to bed early so that he can get up early. ( so that purpose )

Right.

Hans51‘I hope this pandemic passes soon so that people can come out and enjoy the beauty of spring.’Here in the sentence, usage of so that is result or purpose?

Purpose. If you hope for something, it's in the future. We don't know what results will occur in the future we are hoping for, so we can't say this sentence has "so that" of result.

The two kinds of "so that" are related by the fact that "purpose" is often a result we wish to see, but a true "result" is a result that we can already see because it has already happened.

CJ

BillJ · Answer

He studied hard so that he passed the exam.

I'm inclined to say that this example is ambiguous in that the underlined element could be interpreted as either a result adjunct or a purpose one.

In the result reading it gives the consequence of his studying hard, while in the purpose reading it says why he studied hard, what his purpose was in studying hard.

The semantic difference is that the subordinate clause is entailed with result, but not with purpose, where there is intention but there is no entailment that the purpose was achieved.

Usage of so that

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