Grammar fix
so to speak
figuratively / not literally
Used to show that you are using words in a non-literal or imaginative way, or to signal that what you just said is a metaphor or not exactly true.
Hear it in context
Notice where the phrase sounds natural.
After a long day, I finally managed to get my head above water, so to speak.
Many people feel that, in modern society, we are always 'on the go', so to speak, because technology keeps us connected all the time.
Fix the pattern
One small grammar move makes it sound right.
Not: He is, so to speak to say, the boss.
Say: He's the boss, so to speak.
It's a fixed phrase — don't expand it to 'so to speak to say'.
Which sounds natural?
Tap the one a native speaker would say.
'So to speak' is the natural tag for flagging a figure of speech; the spelled-out version is laborious.
Build natural chunks
Words that usually travel with it.
so to speak (fixed tag)
- at the end
- after a metaphor
- if you like
- as it were