as others introduced later in the book will also do

[grammar-in-use]

Hello everyone,

The following text is from a book, Ways of Reading, Advanced Reading Skills for Students of English Literature:

How we read a given text also depends to some extent on our particular interest in reading it. Are we studying that text and trying to respond in a way that fulfills the requirement of a given course? Reading it simply for pleasure?Skimming it for information? Ways of reading on a train or in bed are likely to differ considerably from reading in a seminar room. Such dimensions of reading suggest – as others introduced later in the book will also do – that we bring an implicit (often unacknowledged) agenda to any act of reading.

Can the as clause be written as "as others introduced later in the book also will" by deleting do, as in (1) below, or "as will others introduced later in the book" using the inverted structure, as in (2) below?
(1). Such dimensions of reading suggest – as others introduced later in the book also will – that we bring an implicit (often unacknowledged) agenda to any act of reading.
(2). Such dimensions of reading suggest – as will others introduced later in the book – that we bring an implicit (often unacknowledged) agenda to any act of reading.

I would really appreciate any comments on my versions.

 

[lingobingo]

Yes.

 

[Reina de la Aldea]

Such dimensions of reading suggest – as others introduced later in the book will also do – that we bring an implicit (often unacknowledged) agenda to any act of reading.

The interruption of the sentence with the clause within the dashes is an abomination. First of all, let's take that out. "Such dimensions of reading suggest that we bring an implicit (often unacknowledged) agenda to any act of reading."
Now we can pull out the idea that this topic is revisited later in the book and make a separate sentence. "Other such dimensions of reading will be introduced later in the book."

 

[dojibear]

A clause between dashes is a parenthetical expression. In writing, it can be written three ways, with no difference in meaning:
- between dashes
- between commas
- in parentheses (round brackets)

These are identical sentences:

Such dimensions of reading suggest – as others introduced later in the book will also do – that we

Such dimensions of reading suggest (as others introduced later in the book will also do) that we

uch dimensions of reading suggest, – as others introduced later in the book will also do, that we

A parenthetical is a side comment. It is not part of the sentence grammar. It can be removed entirely, in order to understand the sentence grammar. Post #3 shows the sentence without the parenthetical comment. A parenthetical adds information, without being part of the sentence.

The interruption of the sentence with the clause within the dashes is an abomination.

I disagree. Parentheticals (side comments) are a part of English. They are not new. Famous authors of the 1800 and 1700 used them a lot -- perhaps more than modern authors do.

Sometimes the side comment adds information about the entire clause before it.
Often the side comment adds information about the word before it (in this case, "suggest").

Sometimes a side comments is used in an appositive way. For example:

Obama (the current President) said the US should not...
Obama, the current President, said the US should not...
Obama -- the current President -- said the US should not...

 

[Reina de la Aldea]

Don’t get me wrong: I have nothing against so-called side comments or parentheticals. I use them all the time in my own writing, but they have the effect of making the text that constitutes the side comment stand out a bit, don’t you think? I find the side comment – the parenthetical– in this sentence confuses the issue. It trips you up. It forces you to go back and try to figure out what it’s referring to. This is much better done in two sentences.

Thank you for your post, doji