"So that" usage

Hi —


^^ This is fundamentally accurate.


^^ This is exactly backward. If you reverse "cause" and "effect", this will also be a fundamentally accurate representation.
(Remember, one meaning of the word "so" is, essentially, equivalent to "therefore".)


MORE IMPORTANTLY, though —
Remember that it's ALWAYS better to memorize EXAMPLES, NOT RULES!

This is just the way the human mind works. For instance, consider your understanding of what it means to be "rude".
If I were to ask you, "What constitutes rude behavior in your culture/country/social circle?" ... then you DEFINITELY WOULDN'T give me "rules" (and you almost certainly wouldn't be able to formulate such rules, even if you were asked to!).
Instead, you would just throw a bunch of EXAMPLES at me ... until I'd gathered a sufficient conceptual understanding from the aggregate of those examples, together.

You should absorb SC concepts in the same way.
•••IF NECESSARY••• you can START with a "rule" — but you should replace any "rules" with EXAMPLES as soon as you can.

Dear Mo2men,

My friend, I'm happy to respond.

First, I'll recommend this blog:
GMAT Idioms: Cause and Consequence

I agree with your first formulation (Action + so that + Purpose) but something doesn't feel right at all about the second formulation (Effect + so that + cause)--I would say it's something more along the lines of Cause + so that + effect.

I call the so that and so [adjective] that idioms "clause of consequence," because what follows the "that" is typically the consequence of an action or decision. Often, at least with human actors, these clause carry the connotation that the consequence was an intended one--that's why a consequence, a result, can also be a purpose.

In these sentences about desertification, there's no human actor, no conscious intention, so what follows the "so that" is purely a consequence.

Does all this make sense?
Mike
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You might want to refer to this post.
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Hi mikemcgarry

When to use So + Cause + As to + effect and So + Cause + that + Effect?

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