"too high" vs "so high"

Question

My brother in the middle school had a question in his vocab exam.

It says: The roof was ..... high that no one can touch it.

He thinks so high is correct, however, I am more into using too instead of so. What would be the correct answer ?

Thanks

@Tiw thank you, you can answer and I will accept it if you wish. — Ahmed K. Moustafa, Commented Mar 30, 2019 at 17:20
Wait wait, others may have better ideas. Also my answer is too short to be a good answer :) — Tyl, Commented Mar 30, 2019 at 17:23
In that sentence, "too high" is absolutely wrong. That makes no sense. The answer is "so high." The guy who said "too is more logically sound" must not be a native English speaker because that's not right at all. — Benjamin Harman, Commented Mar 30, 2019 at 17:31
@BenjaminHarman Okay, you can add the answer as well and I can accept it. — Ahmed K. Moustafa, Commented Mar 30, 2019 at 17:34

Jason Bassford · Accepted Answer · 2019-03-30 17:29:07Z

2

The following is ungrammatical:

✘ The roof was too high that no one can touch it.

It would be fine if the rest of the sentence were rephrased in one of a few ways:

The roof was too high for anyone to touch.
The roof was too high, and no one could touch it.

But I'm assuming the question doesn't allow for the rest of the sentence to be modified in any way.

The only word you can drop into the sentence as it is that keeps it grammatical is so.

answered Mar 30, 2019 at 17:29

Jason Bassford

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yeah it was a multiple choice question and it does not allow for the sentence to be modified as you mentioned.
– Ahmed K. Moustafa
Commented Mar 30, 2019 at 17:38
but even the roof was so high that no one can touch it is weird because of the change of tense from was to can - for my money it should be was... could or is... can.
– Minty
Commented Mar 30, 2019 at 17:39
@Minty Yes, I agree with you. As far as the verb tense goes, I would take it to be the best of available bad choices.
– Jason Bassford
Commented Mar 30, 2019 at 17:44
1

@Tiw Not at all easily, I'm afraid. It's one of those things that, as a native speaker, I just know is wrong. I can't think of a simple explanation for it.
– Jason Bassford
Commented Mar 30, 2019 at 18:09
1

@Tiw - It's not a grammar rule per se; it's just a fact of vocabulary that so...that is a common construction for joining two related ideas with a cause-and-effect relationship - see this exercise for example - and too...that isn't.
– Canadian Yankee
Commented Apr 3, 2019 at 16:15

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