Too…to, so…that

Too…to

Too…to shows undesirable excess and has a kind of negative meaning.

• She was too tired to walk.
• It was too cold to go out.
• The boy has too little intelligence to understand this.

Sometimes the clauses may have different subjects and then we use a structure with for.

Read the following sentences.

• The tea was very hot. I couldn’t drink it.

Here the sentences have different subjects – the tea and I. We can connect these two clauses using too…to.

The tea was too hot for me to drink. (NOT The tea was too hot for me to drink it.)

Another example is given below.

• Her behaviour was very rude. I couldn’t tolerate it.
• Her behaviour was too rude for me to tolerate.
• The weather was very hot. We didn’t go out.
• The weather was too hot for us to go out.
• She has become very fat. She cannot wear her old clothes.
• She has become too fat to wear her old clothes.

So…that

The structure so…that can be used to show cause and effect.

Study the following sentences.

• She was very tired. She could not walk.

We can combine these two sentences using so…that.

• She was so tired that she could not walk.

We can also express the same idea using too…to.

• She was too tired to walk.

More examples are given below.

• It was very late. We didn’t go out.
• It was so late that we didn’t go out. OR It was too late for us to go out.

•  She was very angry. She tore the letter up.

• She was so angry that she tore the letter up. OR She was too angry not to tear the letter up.

•  He was very slow. He couldn’t keep pace with his friends.

• He was so slow that he couldn’t keep pace with his friends. OR He was too slow to keep pace with his friends.