Creative Learning

Purpose expressed by a Clause of Purpose

Clauses are necessary when the person to whom the purpose refers, is mentioned (usually when there are two different subjects)

I work so that you can go to university

• You will have to be careful with the tenses:
  

· When the main verb is in the present tense, present perfect or future:

so that + can, will

I light the house so that it will be warm

I study so that I can get better marks

• When the main verb is in the past, past perfect or conditional:

so that + could, would

I lit the house so that it would be warm.

I studied so that I could get better marks.

• For more formal constructions:

so that / in order that + may might

We carve our names on the stone so that / in order that future generations may know what we have done

• Negative purpose clause

She helps him study so that he won’t fail his exam.

He hid his diary so that his wife wouldn’t read it.