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Satomi_N
Usage of "as it does" as a parenthesis
The paragraph below is an excerpt from the book named On the Study of Words.
There are two questions:
1 What function and meaning does the parenthetic clause "as it does" have?
2 What relative adverb can supplant "that" in the middle of the paragraph? (I assume "when" can do.)
(I used square brackets[] to signalize the points of which I have a question.)
I attach my brief paraphrase at the end.Original Text
We indeed hear it not seldom said that ignorance is the mother of admiration. No falser word was ever spoken, and hardly a more mischievous one; implying, [as it does], that this healthiest exercise of the mind rests, for the most part, on a deceit and a delusion, and that with larger knowledge it would cease; while, in truth, for once [that] ignorance leads us to admire that which with fuller insight we should perceive to be a common thing, one demanding no such tribute from us, a hundred, nay, a thousand times, it prevents us from admiring that which is admirable indeed.
My paraphrase
We certainly hear people say frequently that ignorance is the mother of admiration. This statement is utterly incorrect and one of the most injurious words. It implies that this helthiest excercise, namely ignorance, is chiefly based upon a deceit and delusion, and also implies that ignorance would disappear with larger knowledge, whereas, in reality, per once that ignorance leads us to admire the thing which, with more comprehensive insight, we should recognize as a common thing which is not worth receiving such praise from us, a hundred, or rather, a thousand times, it prevents us from admiring what should actually be admired.
Thank you for reading to the end. Perhaps you would explain.
Sep 21, 2017 5:28 AM
Answers · 7
2
If these are test questions, then guessing what the examiner wants is hard in this case.
"As it does" here means "which the idea just mentioned does imply". It is used only for emphasis and can be omitted with no loss of meaning.
On "once that", in modern English (this book was written in 1851), we only say "once" and adding "that" sounds strange. I can't think of any substitutes for "that" which would make sense here. So I can't imagine what the examiner was thinking of.
September 21, 2017
2
To tack on to the previous answer, I believe that the "healthiest exercise of the mind" is referring to admiration and not ignorance.
Also I think [that] is specifying the ignorance on which false admiration is built, as opposed to ignorance in general, so actually you would not want to replace it or omit it as it would change the meaning of this excerpt.
September 21, 2017
2
This excerpt is some pretty difficult English.
Phrases like "as it does" and "as it were" are often used for what I would call "poetic effect" which is to say that they make the writing sound more sophisticated. In other words, the meaning is the same if these phrases are omitted.
As for [that], I think that it's not a relative pronoun in this sentence. I think it's just a demonstrative pronoun which could be omitted or replaced by "this", "the", or "an" although the meaning would be different.
September 21, 2017
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Satomi_N
Language Skills
English, Japanese
Learning Language
English
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