The word so feels wrong to me, but I can’t articulate why. I hear this pattern (I got so many requests to X.) frequently on a particular Youtube channel and I always think to myself You got so many requests that what?
Some definitions for so use it as above, but they tag it with the word ‘informal’, such as:
- Informal. very or extremely: I’m so sad.
http://www.dictionary.com/browse/so
That doesn’t tell me what's wrong with the sentence. Why is this use of so considered ‘informal’?
Best Answer
What you miss here is a final clause, of the sort that expresses not so much purpose as result. Such final clauses are commonly introduced by that, though the that is often optional. The following, for instance, would fulfill your expectation without that:
The expectation of a final clause after this sort of so is the mainspring of a standard sort of joke:
Using so as a simple intensifier, or in other words as a substitute for very, is a common colloquialism and need be eschewed only in formal register.