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There is a quote from Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, which is as follows:

“It would look odd to be entirely silent for half an hour together, and yet for the advantage of some, conversation ought to be so arranged as that they may have the trouble of saying as little as possible.”

The quote makes sense to me, but the sentence structure/construction and the use of ‘as’ in such a manner seem peculiar. Is it outdated? And does the construction ‘so…as that’ have the same function as ‘such that’? Furthermore, can ‘as that’ be used on its own in other contexts without the ‘so’ preceding it? I cannot think of any examples off the top of my head.

Thank you.

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    As that, here, means what we'd write in Modern English as so that. They introduce a result clause, describing the way things should be organized in the opinion of the narrator.
    – John Lawler
    Commented Mar 29, 2023 at 23:20
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    Yes, the meaning of as that here is identical to such that.
    – Araucaria - Him
    Commented Mar 30, 2023 at 13:03
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    To avoid ambiguity, I'd use 'ought to be arranged in such a way as to ensure they ...'
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Mar 30, 2023 at 14:01

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  1. It is outdated. I have never heard or seen it used before today, and I have been alive for over 40 years.

  2. Already answered by our esteemed colleague Mr Lawler. "As that, here, means what we'd write in Modern English as so that. They introduce a result clause, describing the way things should be organized in the opinion of the narrator."

  3. The only example I can possibly think of for "as that" is the following:

"The work of Turner is not as celebrated as that of Titian."

However, that contains the form "as [adjective] as that of", so in short, no I cannot think of any examples of "as that" either.

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