Urgent! Native and Expert evaluation required! Please help

He realized that the world could run out of key resources, ------------ he was a harsh critic of the wastefulness of modern industrial society.

A) so that
B) whether
C) so long as
D) and so
E) but

 

This question has been discussed on "General English Grammar Questions" forum before, but I need a more comprehensible evaluation on the answer/answers.

We have no objection "D". Couldn't "A", however,  be also a logical answer ? Or couldn't we use"so that" as a conjunction of an adverbial clause of Result?

Could you make an explanation about the issue? Why or why not?

Any comment'll be much appreciated. Thanks in advance  

 

Anonymous wrote:

Yulysess wrote: We have no objection "D". Good, as this is the best answer. Couldn't "A", however,  be also a logical answer ? Yes, A is a logically correct answer. The problem is that it is not grammatically correct. I think that what you are confusing so that with is such that. Such that would be grammatically correct.

Thanks Anon!

Ok, to you, then, is it a good and qualified ELT test question? To me not!

Yulysess wrote:

Ok, to you, then, is it a good and qualified ELT test question? To me not!

I think that it depends on the purpose and nature of the ELT test. However, I believe that this is valid as a question of grammar, and that all English speakers with a good knowledge of grammar would respond correctly whereas undoubltedly some native English speakers would not.

Hello Anon

"So that" can also mean "with the result that", or "with the consequence that" (see the Oxford English Dictionary, under "so".)

Here are some examples from English literature:

Scott: "To this sturdy Saxon, therefore, the journey was fraught with all manner of displeasure and discomfort; so that he more than once internally cursed the tournament, and him who had proclaimed it, together with his own folly in ever thinking of going thither."

Scott: "This was a small premium, yet, in the first burst of business, it more than sufficed for all Dick's moderate wants; so that he occupied an apartment at the Wallace Inn, cracked his jest with impunity even upon mine host himself, and lived in respect and observance with the chambermaid, hostler, and waiter."

Woolf: "But Hirst did not help him, and the other people with their aimless movements and their unknown lives were disturbing, so that he longed for the empty darkness."

Woolf: "The lights were coming out one after another in the town beneath, and it was very peaceful and cool in the garden, so that he stepped out on to the terrace."

London: "Elijah was the older man, and he weakened first, so that he came to lie up most of the time in his furs."

Trollope: "And now his tongue was unloosed, so that he began to speak quickly."

James: "His old sense of her being a complex and intricate girl had, in that quarter of an hour of talk with her, again become lively, so that he was not absolutely sure his apprehensions had been vain."

MrP

MrPedantic wrote:

Here are some examples from English literature:

I recognize that some people at some times in the past have used so that in what was considered to be an acceptable fashion. Your citations seem to be from earlier generations.

I recognize that some people, yourself included, accept this construction. I have only my experience to draw from. To me, an American English speaker, this construction is sufficiently incorrect that, although I would not challenge a native speaker and tell him that he is not correct, I certainly would tell a non-native speaker that I do not consider such usage to be a good habit to get into.

This is, of course, my opinion, but it does seem to match the opinion of the person who wrote the question.