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Consider the following sentences:

  1. Yes, you did, very well so.
  2. Yes, you did so very well.

Do those sentences have exactly the same meaning? If they don't have the same meaning, can someone explain to me their meanings?

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  • ell.stackexchange.com/questions/341611/… for context.
    – Maciej Stachowski
    Commented Sep 21, 2023 at 12:21
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    Neither of them means anything in current English.
    – Kate Bunting
    Commented Sep 21, 2023 at 12:40
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    'very well so' means nothing. 'so very well' sounds like you're complimenting a small child for tying their shoelaces without assistance.
    – DoneWithThis.
    Commented Sep 21, 2023 at 13:31
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    To help those learning English, note that the OP question has some mistakes. "Do that sentences..." should be "Do those sentences..." (to match the plural). And "In case they don't..." is not wrong, but the more likely expression is "If they don't..."
    – Peter Kirkpatrick
    Commented Sep 21, 2023 at 19:48

1 Answer 1

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Sentence 1 is simply wrong. The idion is "very much so", and is explained in the reference given in the comments.

Sentence 2 is a valid sentence, but its meaning is slightly ambiguous. The word "so" is used to qualify other words and has a wide range of meanings. As punctuated, it probably means "You did X not just very well, but so very well." It's an intensifier. We would get the same result if we said "You did very, very well".

However, if we read so as qualifying the verb, "you did", the sentence would mean You did so (the thing implied by the previous conversation), and you did it very well. If I wanted to retain these words and make this meaning clear, I would add a comma after the word so.

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  • Hi! I edited again my question in the way you told me! I have accepted your answer! I also upvoted it!Thank you very much for your answer!
    – Marios Athanasiou
    Commented Sep 22, 2023 at 11:20
  • You got confused and in the first sentence you wrote 'idion' instead of 'idiom'. Is English your mother language?
    – Marios Athanasiou
    Commented Sep 22, 2023 at 11:22
  • Ha! Just a typo. Good spotting.
    – Peter Kirkpatrick
    Commented Sep 22, 2023 at 18:51
  • Hi! We say "You did (it) very, very well". We omitted the word "it". Is the sentence correct without the word "it"?
    – Marios Athanasiou
    Commented Sep 26, 2023 at 6:43
  • Either is fine. I can say to my son "You did your homework well", or "You did well" (with us both understanding that I'm referring to the homework.) They mean the same.
    – Peter Kirkpatrick
    Commented Sep 27, 2023 at 12:58

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