paired structures

[curious]

I was ---- shocked when I received the bill for my car repairs, ---- I never thought it would be as much as that.

A) such / that

B) very / like

C) so / as

D) too / for

E) as / when

I think C is correct, but I wonder whether D is correct or not. If it is not correct, I wonder why.

[Casiopea]

I agree with you on C). Note the difference here: I was too shocked to respond / I was so shocked because . . . .

[curious]

Thank you for your reply. But these are just a few examples from google:

- I was too shocked when I discovered why I had been brought to the police station.

http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:...n&ct=clnk&cd=1

-Just like you're probably experiencing right now, I was too shocked when I discovered all these low-glycemic wonders!

http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:...n&ct=clnk&cd=3

- Don't be too shocked when Horton returns

http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:...n&ct=clnk&cd=1

- In this way they will not be too shocked when the home breaks up later.

http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:...n&ct=clnk&cd=2

- And if the 30-year-old has been slightly surprised by the style of play in the Premiership, he was not too shocked when New Zealand completed only their second-ever grand slam tour of the British Isles.

http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:...n&ct=clnk&cd=3

- For the next shot, I wanted to prepare the viewer that these leaves were actually "alive" so people wouldn't be too shocked when they are suddenly animated.

http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:...&ct=clnk&cd=20

- Of course, it was foolish and unethical on his part and it is safe to assume that the voters wouldn't be kind and forgiving although I don't think people are all too shocked when politicians are caught in sex scandals.

http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:...&ct=clnk&cd=35

[Casiopea]

Great "too . . . when" structures. How do they compare, in your view, to the causal "so . . . / . . . as" structure?

[curious]

Why do you think they have to be pairs. They are not pairs. The misleading title? The original sentence is not a "so .. as" pair. Let me write a sentence in "so ... as" structure. Siberia was so remote and inhospitable a place as the Russian authoroties could think of for exiles. Now, what relation does this sentence bear to the original one?

[Casiopea]

Our original sentence works with a "too . . . / . . . when" structure, but doesn't work (*) with the added causal structure "as/because . . . ." :

I was too shocked (to speak) when I received the bill for my car repairs.

But,

I was too shocked (to speak) when I received the bill for my car *because/for I never thought it would be as much as that.

In short, "I was too shocked" expresses the degree of shock; i.e., I was too shocked (to speak), whereas "I was so shocked" expresses a causal relation: I was so shocked (I couldn't speak), because . . .

Hope that helps.

[curious]

I see, but I find it hard to understand why "too" cannot be folowed by a causal clause?

[curious]

I see, but still I find it hard to understand why "too" cannot be folowed by a causal clause.

[curious]

Googlily:

- I was too shocked as I wasn’t expecting it, but I said yes.

http://66.218.69.11/search/cache?p=%...icp=1&.intl=us

- But I did not cry, I think I was too shocked, as I was not expecting it.

http://66.218.69.11/search/cache?p=%...icp=1&.intl=us

[Casiopea]

OK. So we have covered "too / when" and now "too / as". Going back to your original question, "I wonder whether D [too/for] is correct or not", have you been able to find an example where the structure "too / for" expresses a causal relation? Because that's the structure we're actually looking for.

Here's where "too / for" works:
- This book is too simple for me.
- Our apartment is too small for us.