• Our booking engine at tickets.railforums.co.uk (powered by TrainSplit) helps support the running of the forum with every ticket purchase! Find out more and ask any questions/give us feedback in this thread!

Starting sentences with 'So'

Status
Not open for further replies.

ExRes

Established Member
Joined
16 Dec 2012
Messages
5,761
Location
Back in Sussex
So, I was catching up on a few programmes last night and watched Only Connect from this monday

So, for the second week running an apparently intelligent 20/30 something couldn't help but keep starting sentences with so

So, where has this abomination come from?, text speak?, America?, appallingly bad teaching?

So, am I the only one who was within inches of needing to extricate my foot from the television?
 
Sponsor Post - registered members do not see these adverts; click here to register, or click here to log in
R

RailUK Forums

gnolife

Established Member
Joined
4 Nov 2010
Messages
2,028
Location
Johnstone
so
adverb
to such a great extent.
to the same extent (used in comparisons).
referring back to something previously mentioned:
in the way described or demonstrated; thus.
conjunction
and for this reason; therefore.
with the aim that; in order that.
and then; as the next step.
introducing a question.
introducing a statement which is followed by a defensive comment.
introducing a concluding statement.
in the same way; correspondingly

So is also the 5th studio album by Peter Gabriel, including his highest charting single, Sledgehammer


Im assuming that this is the sort if thing you are after based on the thread title
 

DaleCooper

Established Member
Joined
2 Mar 2015
Messages
3,507
Location
Mulholland Drive
So, I was catching up on a few programmes last night and watched Only Connect from this monday

So, for the second week running an apparently intelligent 20/30 something couldn't help but keep starting sentences with so

So, where has this abomination come from?, text speak?, America?, appallingly bad teaching?

So, am I the only one who was within inches of needing to extricate my foot from the television?

One of my pet hates as well and it appears a lot on this forum. I don't have a problem with a sentence starting with "So" where appropriate and for the occasional bit of variety but not when it is the default. To me this automatic, thoughtless use indicates a lack of communication skills.
 

GB

Established Member
Joined
16 Nov 2008
Messages
6,457
Location
Somewhere
More irritating when the sentence is ended with so. Something which I myself am guilty of time to time.
 

J-2739

Established Member
Joined
30 Jul 2016
Messages
2,043
Location
Barnsley/Cambridge
Another one is 'like'. Ok, I use that word at the beginning of a sentence sometimes, especially when talking to friends. But to use that word at the end, to me, is just dumb.
 
Last edited:

SS4

Established Member
Joined
30 Jan 2011
Messages
8,589
Location
Birmingham
So what's the connection between the four sentences in the OP?

If it makes you feel better the usage came from Unionised labour who, when having nothing better to do whilst striking over the wrong type of biscuit, came up with the idea as a way to annoy those conservatives who just want to work for the betterment of everyone and that language should be as inflexible as union members
 
Last edited:

yorksrob

Veteran Member
Joined
6 Aug 2009
Messages
38,818
Location
Yorks
Yes, this strange affectation has been vexing me for the past couple of years. Even experts on the Today programme seem to have succumbed to it.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
So is also the 5th studio album by Peter Gabriel, including his highest charting single, Sledgehammer


Im assuming that this is the sort if thing you are after based on the thread title

Superb album. Love pretty much every track.
 

DaleCooper

Established Member
Joined
2 Mar 2015
Messages
3,507
Location
Mulholland Drive
There is one situation when it is absolutely imperative to start with "So" - when sending a distress signal. ... --- ...
 

Harbornite

Established Member
Joined
7 May 2016
Messages
3,634
It drives me round the bend. Stop it.

What's wrong with the word it?

:)


In all honesty, I don't care massively about so being used at the start of a sentence. What I really detest is when people get there, their and they're confused. It's not that hard to remember which one is correct!
 
Last edited:

backontrack

Established Member
Joined
2 Feb 2014
Messages
6,383
Location
The UK
What's wrong with the word it?

:)


In all honesty, I don't care massively about so being used at the start of a sentence. What I really detest is when people get there, their and they're confused. It's not that hard to remember which one is correct!

The one that gets my proverbial goat is 'like'. "So, y'know, we were like so drunk, like, and it was like, so awesome yeah, like, like, brilliant, yeah, like, like...
 

Peter Mugridge

Veteran Member
Joined
8 Apr 2010
Messages
14,753
Location
Epsom
There has, for the past few days, been a debate in the letters page of the Daily Telegraph on this "so" business.
 

Arglwydd Golau

Established Member
Joined
14 Apr 2011
Messages
1,421
So, I was catching up on a few programmes last night and watched Only Connect from this monday

So, for the second week running an apparently intelligent 20/30 something couldn't help but keep starting sentences with so

So, where has this abomination come from?, text speak?, America?, appallingly bad teaching?

So, am I the only one who was within inches of needing to extricate my foot from the television?

When I have seen the written use of the word 'So' in this context, there isn't, I don't think, a comma. As an example,often seen in 'Disputes and Prosecutions'....So I was leaving Preston train station (sic)when I was asked for my ticket. I buy one every day but today etc etc
 
Last edited:

EssexGonzo

Member
Joined
9 May 2012
Messages
636
Couldn't agree more. In my mind this has come from Australia and is connected to sentences that rise in pitch at the end and sound like questions?

BUT the biggie for me is...."Can I get....?" Normally preceded by "er, yah" and followed by "an organic frapped mochaccino with vanilla syrup and sprinkles"!

No you can't GET it. You can buy it and have it but the person behind the counter will GET it. That's their job! Stop being such an affected knob.
 

ExRes

Established Member
Joined
16 Dec 2012
Messages
5,761
Location
Back in Sussex
When I have seen the written use of the word 'So' in this context, there isn't, I don't think, a comma.

There certainly wasn't a comma on TV, although could there have been one if i'd been using subtitles?

My comma was for dramatic purposes only, underlining the gap between the spoken "so" and then the rest of the sentence, one worrying aspect for me was that this weeks perpetrator was a medical student who I would assume, perhaps wrongly, had been taught to speak concisely
 

Busaholic

Veteran Member
Joined
7 Jun 2014
Messages
14,029
Never start a sentence with the word 'but' we had drummed in to us at school. But I agree to differ.
 

Busaholic

Veteran Member
Joined
7 Jun 2014
Messages
14,029
Yes, so did I! I still can't do it, you're very brave.

I was always being told I was very brave, both at school and in work situations, when I answered back. Funnily enough, I never got sacked from a job nor even got a detention at school, although I have been told more than once:)I should have lived in a different age
 

DaleCooper

Established Member
Joined
2 Mar 2015
Messages
3,507
Location
Mulholland Drive
Never start a sentence with the word 'but' we had drummed in to us at school. But I agree to differ.

Yes, so did I! I still can't do it, you're very brave.

Don't be scared of the grammar police, sometimes it sounds right to start with a "but"; just don't make a habit of it. It's a bit like the split infinitive, trying too hard to avoid one can make the sentence sound awkward and unnatural.
 

Arglwydd Golau

Established Member
Joined
14 Apr 2011
Messages
1,421
I was always being told I was very brave, both at school and in work situations, when I answered back. Funnily enough, I never got sacked from a job nor even got a detention at school, although I have been told more than once:)I should have lived in a different age

Ah-ha! There's one of my pet hates! 'both at school and work situations'. What's wrong with 'both at school and work'? The word 'situation' in that context has crept into our language!
 

Busaholic

Veteran Member
Joined
7 Jun 2014
Messages
14,029
Don't be scared of the grammar police, sometimes it sounds right to start with a "but"; just don't make a habit of it. It's a bit like the split infinitive, trying too hard to avoid one can make the sentence sound awkward and unnatural.

I would rarely start a sentence with a 'but', for the simple reason that I tend to use a lot of colons and semi-colons and that word would tend to occur after one of those.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Top