Quite vs So - What's the difference?

quite | so |

As a verb quite

is .

As a pronoun so is

this;.

quite

English

Alternative forms

* quight (obsolete)

Etymology 1

A development of (quit), influence by (etyl) quite.

Adverb

(-)

(lb) To the greatest extent or degree; completely, entirely.

#With verbs, especially past participles.

#*, Book I:

#*:Thus when they had the witch disrobed quight , / And all her filthy feature open showne, / They let her goe at will, and wander wayes vnknowne.

#*2005 , Adrian Searle, The Guardian , 4 October:

#*:Nobuyoshi Araki has been called a monster, a pornographer and a genius - and the photographer quite agrees.

#With prepositional phrases and spatial adverbs.

#*1891 , (Thomas Nelson Page), On Newfound River :

#*:Margaret passed quite through the pines, and reached the opening beyond which was what was once the yard, but was now, except for a strip of flower-border and turf which showed care, simply a tangle of bushes and briars.

#*2010 , Joanna Briscoe, The Guardian , 30 October:

#*:Religion and parochial etiquette are probed to reveal unhealthy, and sometimes shockingly violent, internal desires quite at odds with the surface life of a town in which tolerance is preached.

#With predicative adjectives.

#*1914 , (Edgar Rice Burroughs), (The Son of Tarzan) :

#*:El Adrea was quite dead. No more will he slink silently upon his unsuspecting prey.

#*:

#*:In Lejeuneaceae vegetative branches normally originate from the basiscopic basal portion of a lateral segment half, as in the Radulaceae, and the associated leaves, therefore, are quite unmodified.

#With attributive adjectives, following an (especially indefinite) article; chiefly as expressing contrast, difference etc.

#*2003 , (Richard Dawkins), A Devil's Chaplain :

#*:When I warned him that his words might be offensive to identical twins, he said that identical twins were a quite different case.

#*2011 , Peter Preston, The Observer , 18 September:

#*:Create a new, quite separate, private company – say Murdoch Newspaper Holdings – and give it all, or most of, the papers that News Corp owns.

#Preceding nouns introduced by the indefinite article. Chiefly in negative constructions.

#*1791 , (James Boswell), (Life of Samuel Johnson) :

#*:I ventured to hint that he was not quite a fair judge, as Churchill had attacked him violently.

#*1920 , (John Galsworthy), (In Chancery) :

#*:And with a prolonged sound, not quite' a sniff and not ' quite a snort, he trod on Euphemia's toe, and went out, leaving a sensation and a faint scent of barley?sugar behind him.

#With adverbs of manner.

#*2009 , John F. Schmutz, The Battle of the Crater: A complete history :

#*:However, the proceedings were quite carefully orchestrated to produce what seemed to be a predetermined outcome.

#*2011 , Bob Burgess, The Guardian , 18 October:

#*:Higher education institutions in the UK are, quite rightly, largely autonomous.

(lb) In a fully justified sense; truly, perfectly, actually.

#Coming before the indefinite article and an attributive adjective. (Now largely merged with moderative senses, below.)

#*1898 , (Charles Gavrice), Nell of Shorne Mills :

#*:"My little plot has been rather successful, after all, hasn't it?" "Quite a perfect success," said Drake.

#*2001 , Paul Brown, The Guardian , 7 February:

#*:While the government claims to lead the world with its plans to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, the figures tell quite a different story.

#With plain adjectives, past participles, and adverbs.

#*:“My Continental prominence is improving,” I commented dryly. ¶ Von Lindowe cut at a furze bush with his silver-mounted rattan. ¶ “Quite so,” he said as dryly, his hand at his mustache. “I may say if your intentions were known your life would not be worth a curse.”

#*2010 , Dave Hill, The Guardian , 5 November:

#*:London Underground is quite unique in how many front line staff it has, as anyone who has travelled on the Paris Metro or New York Subway will testify.

#Coming before the definite article and an attributive superlative.

#*1910 , ‘(Saki)’, "The Soul of Laploshka", Reginald in Russia :

#*:Laploshka was one of the meanest men I have ever met, and quite one of the most entertaining.

#*1923 , "The New Pictures", Time , 8 October:

#*:Scaramouche has already been greeted as the finest French Revolution yet brought to the screen-and even if you are a little weary of seeing a strongly American band of sans-culottes demolish a pasteboard Paris, you should not miss Scaramouche, for it is quite the best thing Rex Ingram has done since The Four Horsemen.

#Before a noun preceded by an indefinite article; now often with ironic implications that the noun in question is particularly noteworthy or remarkable.

#*1830 , Senate debate, 15 April:

#*:To debauch the Indians with rum and cheat them of their land was quite a Government affair, and not at all criminal; but to use rum to cheat them of their peltry, was an abomination in the sight of the law.

#*2011 , Gilbert Morris, The Crossing :

#*:“Looks like you and Clay had quite a party,” she said with a glimmer in her dark blue eyes.

#Before a noun preceded by the definite article.

#*1871 , (Anthony Trollope), (The Eustace Diamonds) :

#*:It is quite the proper thing for a lady to be on intimate, and even on affectionate, terms with her favourite clergyman, and Lizzie certainly had intercourse with no clergyman who was a greater favourite with her than Mr. Emilius.

#*2006 , Sherman Alexie, "When the story stolen is your own", Time , 6 February:

#*:His memoir features a child named Tommy Nothing Fancy who suffers from and dies of a seizure disorder. Quite the coincidence, don't you think?

To a moderate extent or degree; somewhat, rather.

Usage notes

* This is a non-descriptive qualifier'', similar to fairly and rather and somewhat. Used where a plain adjective needs to be modified, but cannot be qualified. When spoken, the meaning can vary with the tone of voice and stress. ''He was quite big can mean anything from "not exactly small" to "almost huge".

Synonyms

* absolutely, fully, thoroughly, totally, utterly

Antonyms

* (to a great extent) slightly

Derived terms

* quite a few

Interjection

(en interjection)

Indicates agreement; "exactly so".

Etymology 2

From (etyl) quite.

Noun

(en noun)

(bullfighting) A series of passes made with the cape to distract the bull.

Statistics

Anagrams

* quiet English degree adverbs English heteronyms English manner adverbs 1000 English basic words ----

so

English

(wikipedia so)

Conjunction

(English Conjunctions)

In order that.

With the result that; for that reason; therefore.

* , chapter=1

, title= Mr. Pratt's Patients, chapter=1 , passage=Thinks I to myself, “Sol, you're run off your course again. This is a rich man's summer ‘cottage’

(label) Provided that; on condition that, as long as.

* , II.18:

As we cal money not onely that which is true and good, but also the false; so it be currant.

* (John Milton)

Though all the winds of doctrine were let loose play upon the earth, so truth be in the field, we do injuriously, by licensing and prohibiting, to misdoubt her strength.

Usage notes

Chiefly in North American use, a comma or pause is often used before the conjunction when used in the sense with the result that''. (A similar meaning can often be achieved by using a semicolon or colon (without the ''so'' ), as for example: ''He drank the poison; he died. )

Synonyms

* (in order that) so that, that

Adverb

(-)

To the (explicitly stated) extent that.

* , chapter=1

, title= Mr. Pratt's Patients, chapter=1 , passage=Thinks I to myself, “Sol, you're run off your course again. This is a rich man's summer ‘cottage’

* 1963 , Mike Hawker, (Ivor Raymonde) (music and lyrics), (Dusty Springfield) (vocalist), (I Only Want to Be with You) (single),

Don?t know what it is that makes me love you so , / I only know I never want to let you go.

(lb) To the (implied) extent.

[= this long]

, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=2 , passage=We drove back to the office with some concern on my part at the prospect of so large a case. Sunning himself on the board steps, I saw for the first time Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke.}}

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-20, volume=408, issue=8845, magazine=(The Economist)

, title= Old soldiers? , passage=Whether modern, industrial man is less or more warlike than his hunter-gatherer ancestors is impossible to determine. The machine gun is so much more lethal than the bow and arrow that comparisons are meaningless.}}

# (lb) Very (positive clause).

Captain Edward Carlisle; he could not tell what this prisoner might do. He cursed the fate which had assigned such a duty, cursed especially that fate which forced a gallant soldier to meet so' superb a woman as this under handicap ' so hard.

# (lb) Very (negative clause).

# Very much.

Molly the dairymaid came a little way from the rickyard, and said she would pluck the pigeon that very night after work. She was always ready to do anything for us boys; and we could never quite make out why they scolded her so for an idle hussy indoors. It seemed so unjust.

In a particular manner.

In the same manner or to the same extent as aforementioned; also.

* 1883 , (Howard Pyle), (The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood)

*:"Good morrow to thee, jolly fellow," quoth Robin, "thou seemest happy this merry morn." ¶ "Ay, that am I," quoth the jolly Butcher, "and why should I not be so ? Am I not hale in wind and limb? Have I not the bonniest lass in all Nottinghamshire? And lastly, am I not to be married to her on Thursday next in sweet Locksley Town?"

* {{quote-news, year=2012, date=May 19, author=Paul Fletcher, work=BBC Sport

, title= Blackpool 1-2 West Ham , passage=It was a goal that meant West Ham won on their first appearance at Wembley in 31 years, in doing so becoming the first team since Leicester in 1996 to bounce straight back to the Premier League through the play-offs.}}

(with as) To such an extent or degree; as.

Usage notes

Use of so''''' in the sense ''to the '''implied''' extent'' is discouraged in formal writing; spoken intonation which might render the usage clearer is not usually apparent to the reader, who might reasonably expect the ''extent'' to be made explicit. For example, the reader may expect ''He is '''so good'' to be followed by an explanation or consequence of how good ''he'' is. Devices such as use of underscoring and the exclamation mark may be used as a means of clarifying that the implicit usage is intended; capitalising ''SO'' is also used. The derivative subsenses ''very'' and ''very much are similarly more apparent with spoken exaggerated intonation. The difference between so'' and ''very'' in implied-extent usage is that ''very'' is more descriptive or matter-of-fact, while ''so'' indicates more emotional involvement. This ''so'' is used by both men and women, but more frequently by women. For example, ''she is very pretty'' is a simple statement of fact; ''she is so pretty'' suggests admiration. Likewise, ''that is very typical'' is a simple statement; ''that is SO typical of him!'' is an indictment. A formal (and reserved) apology may be expressed ''I am very sorry'', but after elbowing someone in the nose during a basketball game, a man might say, ''Dude, I am so sorry! in order to ensure that it's understood as an accident.Mark Liberman, "Ask Language Log: So feminine?", 2012 March 26

References

Synonyms

* (very) really, truly, that, very * (to a particular extent) that, this, yea * (in a particular manner) like this, thus * really, truly, very much

Derived terms

* or so * so-so * so there * so what

Adjective

(en adjective)

True, accurate.

*:“My Continental prominence is improving,” I commented dryly. ¶ Von Lindowe cut at a furze bush with his silver-mounted rattan. ¶ “Quite so ,” he said as dryly, his hand at his mustache. “I may say if your intentions were known your life would not be worth a curse.”

In that state or manner; with that attribute. ((replaces the aforementioned adjective phrase))

* 1823 , , Martha

If this separation was painful to all parties, it was most so to Martha.

* 1872 , (Charles Dickens), J., The Personal History of (David Copperfield)

But if I had been more fit to be married, I might have made you more so too.

At twilight in the summeron the floor.

Homosexual.

Synonyms

* (true) correct, right, true * musical, one of the family, one of them, that way inclined

Derived terms

* make it so * more so

Interjection

(en interjection)

* , chapter=11

, title= Mr. Pratt's Patients , passage=So , after a spell, he decided to make the best of it and shoved us into the front parlor. 'Twas a dismal sort of place, with hair wreaths, and wax fruit, and tin lambrekins, and land knows what all.}}

Be as you are; stand still; used especially to cows; also used by sailors.

Noun

(en noun)

(label) A syllable used in to represent the fifth note of a major scale.

Abbreviation

(Abbreviation) (head)

someone

Synonyms

* sb

Statistics

Anagrams

* 100 English basic words 1000 English basic words English coordinating conjunctions English degree adverbs English demonstrative adverbs English discourse markers English intensifiers English pro-forms English two-letter words ----