Please tell me the role of "so about" in the sentence.
I found the following sentence in an article. I can understand what the writer wants to say, but the sentence itself is a bit confusing for me.
"Pressure is evil if you let it be. My biggest fear is less so about failure and more so about not trying my best. "
I can't understand the role of " so about " in the second sentence. Is it an idiom or a grammatical rule?
If possible, could you change the sentence more easily?
Thank you.
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Answers · 8
2
The phrase is "less so".
It means "less".
2
less so about is just another fancy way of saying " less about or not so much about, so if i translate into a simplier way it would be " Pressure is evil if you let it be, i am not so scared about failing/failure, but i am more scared about not trying my best
1
imagine a comma after the 'so' to understand it better. (less so, about failure and more so, about...
'so' here is serving as a substitute of the adjective mentioned earlier- evil(though it sounds awkward.... perhaps it refers to any other theme mentioned elsewhere in the article).
compare for clarification:
anxiety is evil if you let it be so. you're ill and anxious about passing the exam. and your friend on the other hand, she is less so(anxious) about your passing it and more so about your health.
its not an idiom as far as i know, just dont mix 'so' with 'about' in such cases.
may peace prevail on earth!
be it so!
0
The word "so" is unnecessary. Just read it as:
"My biggest fear is less about failure and more about trying my best."
Gramatically, I would say it's a small mistake, actually. Even native speakers make them sometimes, right? :-)
0
so about , so care about
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