retro wrote:
I am confused about the usage of these two idioms. Say I had a sentence:
The cops would not allow traffic move so long as the the road was being repaired.
The cops would not allow traffic move as long as the the road was being repaired.
Which one of them is correct? To me, the second option sounds more formal and smoother to understand. My concern is about which option would be GMAT-approved.
Please observe that this is a sentence example that I conceived as I compose the post and is not picked from any source.
But the question comes from reading thru some idioms list I was preparing for my selves.
Regards
Rahul
Rahul,
To be honest there are
no considerable differences between the two:
https://books.google.com/books?id=2yJusP0vrdgC&a...But
as long as is used more often than
so long as. Both are used in the sense "provided that".
Sometimes people think that
as long as is used only in a comparative tone and other one is not used...like:
as big as
as cool as
as long as etc.
But I don't agree fully to this. Anyways check the following example:
The new national highway is not as long as the old one.
The new national highway is not so long as the old one.
In the above example we are using them to refer to length of the highway, we can use for time as well as you did.
But moral of the story is: They both are used interchangeably and mean "provided that".
I hope you find this explanation useful