student asking question

If "for so long" is used here, would it change the nuance of the sentence even just a little bit? Could you explain the difference between "so" and "very" if there's any?

teacher

Native speaker’s answer

Rebecca

It would change it a bit! "So long" would imply to a certain degree or amount. Whereas "very long" emphasizes a long amount of time. Ex: You shouldn't have baked the cake for so long. => It was over the expected amount. = You shouldn't have baked the cake for very long. => Too much in general. Ex: It wasn't so bad. => It's not as bad as you think = It wasn't very bad. => It wasn't extremely bad

Popular Q&As

12/25

Complete the expression with a quiz!