So/such inversion + free indirect thought

Article excerpt · target grammar marked

So complete was her commitment to this idea that she spent the next four decades testing it against her own life. Such was her suspicion of bad faith that she turned it on herself with equal ruthlessness. So honestly did she record her failures that her diaries read less like philosophical argument and less like confession than something uncomfortably close to both.

Grammar Reference · So/such inversion + free indirect thought

so + adj/adv inversion

So complete was her commitment that she tested it daily. — fronted so triggers subject-auxiliary inversion

such…that inversion

Such was her suspicion of bad faith that she turned it on herself. — such fronted for literary emphasis

Free indirect thought

So this, then, was the freedom she had chosen — or had it chosen her? — inversion signals a character's inner voice

Common error

So honest she was... ✗ → So honest was she... ✓ — auxiliary must precede subject after fronted so

01Exercise 1 — Form · Write the Correct Form

So/such inversion + free indirect thought

1. was her commitment to authenticity that she refused to retract a single published admission.

2.So was the ethical ambiguity that no single framework could contain it.

3.Such the pressure of reciprocity that she rewrote the letter four times.

4.So rarely a philosopher acknowledge failure in print that Beauvoir remains exceptional.

5.So this, then, the radical freedom she had argued for — cold and unforgiving in practice.

6.Such her insistence on honesty that even Sartre found it difficult to meet.

02Exercise 2 — Transform

rewrite with the new structure

1.Her commitment to authenticity was so complete that she published everything.

2.The ethical ambiguity was such that no one escaped the consequences.

3.She rarely acknowledged bad faith so openly in public.

4.The pressure of reciprocity was so great that she broke the agreement.

5.Her suspicion of self-deception was such that she trusted no comfortable conclusion.

6.The demand of radical freedom was so relentless that even flourishing felt like an obligation.

03Exercise 3 — About You

in your notebook

Personalise: complete five sentences about yourself using the target grammar.

So/such inversion + free indirect thought01EnglishPlans.com