Kibbitzer 67

Too v. So

The following revision is taken from the dissertation of a Japanese-speaking student of Finance

OriginalRevisions
... many studies have argued that MNC's have become so powerful and are now beyond the capacity of the government to control them.... many studies have argued that MNC's have become too powerful and are now beyond the capacity of the government to control them.
... many studies have argued that MNC's have become so powerful that they are now beyond the capacity of the government to control them.

On discussion, the student chose the structure so - that, which is practised by the following exercise based on authentic citations:

Match the following half-sentences. The first match is A- H ('Aspirin is so familiar that many doctors and patients still don't fully recognise its importance.'). Can you find the others?

AAspirin is so familiar thatAthey caught fire due to friction
BThe predictions are so vague that Bmany are on the verge of giving up.
CMorale among teachers is so low that Che uses a stepladder to paint them.
D'Big Science' is now so expensive that D nothing can escape it, not even light.
EHuman society is now so complex that E governments can no longer shoulder the cost alone.
FWindmills turned so fast in the wind thatFprudent Warsavians don't drink tap-water even when it's boiled
GThe mass of brown dwarfs is so small thatG you can make them fit almost any explanation you care to devise.
HHeavy-metal pollution in the Vistula is so bad thatHmany doctors and patients still don't fully recognise its importance.
IA black hole is a collapsed star whose gravity is so great thatIwhat students need is to be taught the ''how'' rather than the ''what'' of information.
JOver the years he has produced a series of canvases so large that Jthey never get hot enough to burn hydrogen in their cores, and never become fully fledged stars.
Key to exercise

12th November 1999 Consultant: Tim Johns
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