SO + adjective + AS + TO-infinitive – English Grammar Profiler

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Even if we are so unlucky as to be diagnosed with cancer, 

that early-stage alarm will provide a strong beacon of hope.

TED

Be so kind as to cast your mind back to the summer of rock and free love.

Track 29

The “so + adjective + as + to-infinitive” structure is used to express the idea that something is in such a state or condition that it causes or allows another thing to happen. It’s a way of showing cause and effect, or a particular circumstance that leads to a certain outcome. Here’s how it works in the examples above:

  1. Here, the phrase “so unlucky as to be diagnosed with cancer” means that if we are unlucky enough that we get diagnosed with cancer, there is still hope because of the early-stage alarm.
  2. In this sentence, “so kind as to cast your mind back” is a polite way of asking someone to remember or think about a specific time in the past. The speaker is asking the listener to be kind enough to recall the summer of rock and free love.

In both examples, the “so + adjective + as + to-infinitive” structure is used to express a certain condition (being unlucky, being kind) that leads to an outcome (being diagnosed with cancer, casting your mind back). It’s a versatile structure that can be used in a variety of contexts to show cause and effect.

Profiling Research

The English Grammar Profile C2 Point 123 in the category of CLAUSES/comparatives is defined as:

so’ + adjective + ‘as’ + ‘to’-infinitive clause, usually in formal contexts.

It also relates to Pearson’s GSE 80 C1

very polite requests

Their example:

Would you be so kind as to lend me some money?

iWeb search for:

so _J as to _VVI

1 SO BOLD AS TO SAY 147

a polite way of asking for or suggesting something when you do not want to offend someone that might find something rude.

2 SO KIND AS TO GIVE 112 3 SO KIND AS TO SEND 108

4 SO KIND AS TO TELL 107

5 SO NAIVE AS TO THINK 98

6 SO KIND AS TO SHARE 94 7 SO GREAT AS TO MAKE 83

8 SO BOLD AS TO SUGGEST 82

For results 10-50, we had AI complete the corpus results: