Make sure you get plenty of rest, so that you don’t fall asleep at work.
So that is also used in result clauses. This use is explained in paragraphs 8.55 and 8.56.
8.48 In formal or old-fashioned English, lest is sometimes used at the beginning of a purpose clause to say what an action is intended to prevent.
For example, They built a statue of him lest people should forget what he had done means the same as They built a statue of him so that people would not forget what he had done.
He spoke in whispers lest the servants should hear him.
In clauses beginning with lest, you use either the subjunctive or a modal.
Reason clauses: … because I wanted to win
8.49 When you want to give the reason for something, you use a reason clause.
Here is a list of the main conjunctions used in reason clauses:
as
because
in case
just in case
since
8.50 If you are simply giving the reason for something, you use because, since, or as.
I couldn’t be angry with him because I liked him too much.
I didn’t know that she was married, since she rarely talked about herself.
As we had plenty of time, we decided to go for a coffee.
8.51 You use in case or just in case when you are mentioning a possible future situation which is someone’s reason for doing something. In the reason clause, you use the present simple.
Mr Woods, I am here just in case anything out of the ordinary happens.
When you are talking about someone’s reason for doing something in the past, you use the past simple in the reason clause.
He did not sit down in case his trousers got creased.
8.52 In that, inasmuch as, insofar as, and to the extent that are used to say why a statement you have just made is true. These are formal expressions.
I’m in a difficult situation in that I have been offered two jobs and they both sound interesting.
Censorship is ineffective inasmuch as it does not protect anyone.
We are traditional insofar as we write traditional-style songs, but we try and write about modern issues.
He feels himself to be dependent to the extent that he is not free to make his own decisions.
Inasmuch as is sometimes written as In as much as, and insofar as is sometimes written as in so far as.
8.53 People sometimes use reason clauses beginning with for or seeing that. For means the same as because. Its use in reason clauses is now considered to be old-fashioned.
I hesitate, for I am not quite sure of my facts.
Seeing that you’re the guest on this little trip, I won’t tell you what I think of your behaviour last night.
Now and now that are used to say that a new situation is the reason for something. Clauses beginning with now or now that are dealt with as time clauses. They are explained in paragraph 8.18.
Result clauses: I’ll drive you there so that you won’t be late
8.54 When you want to talk about the result of something, you use a result clause.
Result clauses always come after the main clause.
8.55 Result clauses usually begin with so that.
You can use so that simply to say what the result of an event or situation was.
My suitcase had become damaged, so that the lid would not stay closed.
A storm had brought the sea into the house, so that they had been forced to escape by a window.
There’s a window above the bath so that when I’m relaxing here I can watch the sky.
So, and so, and and can also be used.
She was having great difficulty getting her car out, and so I had to move my car to let her out.
He was shot in the chest and died.
With these result clauses, you usually put a comma after the main clause.
8.56 You can also use so that to say that something is or was done in a particular way to achieve a desired result.
For example, He fixed the bell so that it would ring when anyone came in means He fixed the bell in such a way that it would ring when anyone came in.
Explain it so that a 10-year-old could understand it.
They arranged things so that they never met.
With these result clauses, you do not put a comma after the main clause.
8.57 So that is also used in purpose clauses. This use is explained in paragraph 8.47.
8.58 So and that are also used in a special kind of structure to say that a result happens because something has a quality to a particular extent, or because something is done in an extreme way.
In these structures, so is used in front of an adjective or adverb. A that-clause is then added.
The crowd was so large that it overflowed the auditorium.
They were so surprised they didn’t try to stop him.
He dressed so quickly that he put his boots on the wrong feet.
She had fallen down so often that she was covered in mud.
Sometimes as is used instead of that. As is followed by a to-infinitive clause.
…small beaches of sand so white as to dazzle the eye.
I hope that nobody was so stupid as to go around saying those things.
8.59 So and that can also be used in this way with many, few, much, and little.
We found so much to talk about that it was late at night when we remembered the time.