SC Knowledge Point: (Semantic Reasonableness) Subtle Semantic Differences Between ‘enough’ and ‘so…that’
Technically, “quicksand” is the term for sand that is so saturated with water as to acquire a liquid’s character.
B. that is so saturated with water that it acquires the character of a liquid (OA)
C. that is saturated with water enough to acquire liquid characteristics
Today’s Terminator key discussion is about a frequently tested concept in medium-difficulty questions that many people don’t know how to distinguish: ‘so…that…’ (so…that…) and ‘enough…to…’ (enough to…).
Semantically, they don’t seem to differ much, right? We don’t even really distinguish them in everyday speech. But here, let’s approach it from a semantic logic perspective.
When we want to say ‘so…that…’, we are actually emphasizing the severity of a situation. For example:
Tong God is so fat that he gets stuck in the door.
(Tong God is so fat he gets stuck in the door)
We are emphasizing that Zhang Jiahang is truly incredibly fat, so fat that he really can’t get out; he could be four, five, or six times the size of the door. What happens if we change it to ‘enough to…’?
Tong God is fat enough to get stuck in the door.
(Tong God is fat enough to get stuck in the door)
What we seem to be emphasizing is: Tong God’s physique just barely crosses the line ‘between getting stuck and not getting stuck,’ just successfully gained enough weight to achieve the ‘getting stuck in the door’ accomplishment.
Let’s look at some more serious correct sentences:
One report concludes that many schools do not have, nor are they likely to have, enough computers to use them effectively.
It’s not emphasizing ‘computers are extremely, extremely, extremely few,’ but rather emphasizing that ‘even the standard for effective use’ cannot be met.
Students in the metropolitan school district are so lacking in math skills that it will be difficult to absorb them into a city economy becoming ever more dependent on information-based industries.
What is emphasized is that ‘math skills are truly, truly, truly poor,’ not ‘just poor enough to cross a standard,’ just unable to establish themselves in modern society.
不確定自己現在幾分？
12 題免費測出分數區間 →
The city has proposed a number of water treatment and conservation projects whose cost will raise water bills so high that even environmentalists are beginning to raise alarms.
Emphasizing that ‘water bills have truly risen to an outrageous level,’ so high that even environmentalists can’t stand it anymore.
Scientists at the Los Alamos National Laboratory have succeeded for the first time in mining heat from the Earth’s interior to produce energy on a commercial scale, enough for generating electricity efficiently and for heating factories and homes.
Emphasizing that ‘geothermal power generation has just crossed the threshold for commercial use’.
Now, back to this question:
Technically, “quicksand” is the term for sand that is so saturated with water as to acquire a liquid’s character.
B. that is so saturated with water that it acquires the character of a liquid (OA)
C. that is saturated with water enough to acquire liquid characteristics
For this question, is it more reasonable to emphasize ‘just barely’ or ‘severity of degree’? This must be approached by analyzing the meaning of the entire sentence and considering the author’s true intention. This is also what we emphasize most in the first lesson of Terminator SC: ‘The first step in solving semantic problems is to consider the author’s intent.’ What exactly does the author want to say? In a previous article, I mentioned two steps:
(1) In what kind of article would this appear?
(2) What is the author’s purpose in writing this sentence?
(1) This should appear in an article about natural knowledge, like a Hansheng Encyclopedia or similar.
(2) The author should be introducing us to the natural properties of quicksand.
Now we can think about it: For all quicksand in the world, is it ‘absorbing water just enough to pass a standard, thus acquiring liquid characteristics’? Or is it ‘absorbing a lot of water, so much so that it acquires liquid characteristics’?
If it were the former, it would seem as if all quicksand in the world just barely passed a standard, say 60%, and there wouldn’t be any with 70%, 80%, or 90% water content; all quicksand would have just absorbed enough to possess liquid characteristics. But we all know that, logically, quicksand should be ‘sand that has absorbed too much water, and because of the excess, it acquires liquid characteristics,’ possibly with 60%, 70%, 80%, or even 90% water content…, rather than just barely passing a standard. Therefore, in terms of semantic expression, emphasizing the severity of the degree is more reasonable.
It’s a subtle difference, isn’t it? I know, because you’re not yet used to judging meaning, so it might feel difficult. No worries, from now on, open the correct sentences you have, search for correct sentences with ‘so…that…’ and ‘enough,’ read them through yourself, and think about what tone and logic the author wants to emphasize, you will gradually grasp the distinction between the two.
