so and such

[beachboy]

He's such a good player - plural - They're such good playersHe's so good a player - plural - ???What about the difference between "there isn't such thing as" and "there isn't such a thing as" ? Why is the first one acceptable, if "thing" is countable? Thanks

[David L.]

He's such a good player
They're such good players
He's so good a player (in fact, that he's been chosen to play for England.)
All correct


"there isn't such thing as"
and
"there isn't such a thing as"
Why is the first one acceptable, if "thing" is countable?
IT ISN'T. The correct forms are:
There isn't such a thing as..
or
There isn't any such thing as...

[Buddhaheart]

We use the adverb ‘such’ before an [(adjective) + noun]. It’s used with count or non-count nouns, singular or plural. When the noun is singular, the article ‘a’ or ‘an’ is used before the adjective or noun. ‘He's such a good player.’ and ‘They're such good players.’ are good examples of yours.

We use the adverb ‘so’ before another adverb or an adjective without a noun following. ‘He's so good a player.’ ‘They’re so good a team.’ & ‘He is so (*such) good.’ are good examples.

I don’t believe there’s any difference between ‘… such (a) thing as’ and ‘… such a thing as’ except perhaps the ‘a’ is elided in the first instance. However, the clause could be turned into its plural form: ‘There aren't such things as …’

[beachboy]

Thanks, but I'm still puzzled: I've understood that "They're such good players" is right. But what about "They're so good players" (with the "that" clause implicit)? Is it grammatically correct?

[Buddhaheart]

I don’t believe we would say “*They're so good players that …" You could say “They're so good that …" without the noun following ‘good’. I only heard of “They're such good players that …"