Helpful Hint
SO FUN
Which of the following is the odd one out?
- That was so beauty!
- Isn't it so peace!
- This is so fun!
Grammatically, they are all the same; there is no odd one out. Yet for some reason the last of those three expressions has crept into our language as a common expression. The words 'beauty', 'peace' and 'fun' are all nouns, so they cannot be modified by the adverb 'so'. Just as the first two sentences above look decidedly odd, so too is that last one!
We do sometimes use nouns as adjectives: we refer to a beauty queen, a peace deal, a fun day. While that works, to go the next step and try to modify, with an adverb, a noun that is given the temporary function of an adjective just does not work. Instead, we should say something like:
- 'This is a lot of fun' or
- 'This is awesome fun' or
- 'This is so much fun that we should do it again.'
Another saying that has become very common in our language - but is technically incorrect - is 'Thank you so much!' Ideally we should say:
- 'Thank you very much' or
- 'Thank you enormously' or
- 'Thank you from the bottom of my heart'.
