On so goes the knight in search of shelter for the night.
Can I place "so" like this in the sentence?
asked Jan 12, 2018 at 4:50
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1No. If you write this, what is your subject?– user3169Jan 12, 2018 at 7:38
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Not when you want so to connect your sentence to the previous one with the meaning "for that reason" or "in light of that" or "and the next thing that happened". Here so modifies on, albeit somewhat awkwardly. on in that manner– TimRJan 12, 2018 at 11:51
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2The fair maiden, thinking she was alone, spoke aloud her wish that a handsome knight would come along and fulfill her every desire. So out pops the scurvy knight who was hiding behind the haystack, and says, " And 'ere I be, me love!" You wouldn't say "Out so pops the knight..."– TimRJan 12, 2018 at 11:59
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It doesn't make any sense in that position. I would suggest you don't do this. It's very odd.– Billy KerrJun 26, 2022 at 14:08
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3 Answers
Can I place "so" like this in the sentence?
You can, but don’t.
So means “in this manner”, so your sentence isn’t grammatically or semantically wrong, but it just sounds so odd. (So also means “to a great degree”).
I would not place so in that sentence. What you might be trying to say is and so on went the knight in search of shelter for the night
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Nope, I'm hoping to say "So the knight goes on in search of shelter for the night" Jan 12, 2018 at 7:01
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goes on is a phrase in itself, so you can't split it up. "the beat goes on" for example.– user3169Jan 12, 2018 at 7:40
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But we can invert the words and say "On goes the beat" and I find it possible to split it in this word order. Jan 12, 2018 at 7:51
After quite a bit of head-scratching, I'm going to listen to my heart:
That "so" has no right to be there, but it sounds sort of cute... like an uninvited but still adorable guest?
Is it meant to be part of a poem or have a poetic ring to it? If so, you have the backing of this non-native speaker of English.
I think we could consider it a (distorted) form of "the knight goes on so", meaning "the knight goes on in the same vein".
If not, perhaps consider "And so, on goes the knight" or the blander "And so, the knight goes on", where "so" would mean "therefore".
