Isnt's "So" a synonym of "very"?

[ahsanul.irfan]

According to Oxford dictionary "so" means "To to such a great extent"

1. I will kick the ball so hard.
Doesn’t it mean "I will kick the ball very hard"?

2. I love you so much.
Doesn’t it mean "I love you very much"?

3. Two things people feel so much emotion about:-...
Doesn’t it mean "Two things people feel very much emotion about"?

 

[Barque]

Doesn’t it mean "I will kick the ball very hard"?

That's how it'd be understood, but it isn't the ideal way to say it. Or the listener may ask, "So hard that ...?"

2. I love you so much.
Doesn’t it mean "I love you very much"?

This is a little different. It's become a fairly common way of saying "I love you very much" and I daresay it's accepted as correct by many.

3. Two things people feel so much emotion about:-...
Doesn’t it mean "Two things people feel very much emotion about"?

No, though that's what most people would understand it to mean.

 

[Glizdka]

Although many English teachers claim it's a mistake to use so like that, most everyday normal users of English have no problem with it whatsoever. You can think of it as a synonym of very, yes.

However, the English language is rich enough in intensifiers that I'm sure you can find something better than so. It's very easy to overuse it, which can be annoying to some listeners, like, so annoying, d'you know what I mean?

 

[Barque]

Glizdka, you're probably right, generally speaking, but we shouldn't let the OP think that the following sentence

Two things people feel so much emotion about:-...

is correct. It very definitely isn't.

People can play around with "so" and "very" when they have a reasonable command over the language. It'd be a mistake to give them the impression that it's fine to replace "very" with "so" in every case.

 

[Glizdka]

I refrained from telling the OP whether their sentences are correct because I am one of those who don't like so used like that. In my eyes, they're all wrong.

I was sure it was clear I wasn't giving the impression it's fine to replace very with so. Well, I guess it's time to crawl back into that hole I dwell in.

 

[5jj]

I was sure it was clear I wasn't giving the impression it's fine to replace very with so.

It was.

Well, I guess it's time to crawl back into that hole I dwell in.

Please don't.

 

[Barque]

I was sure it was clear I wasn't giving the impression it's fine to replace very with so.

I got that impression because of this sentence quoted below:

You can think of it as a synonym of very, yes.

But possibly I misunderstood you. Please ignore that "hole" and stick around.