Moule Lin
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Analysing Long, Complex Sentences

EnglishGrammar

Despite a spell of initial optimism in the 1960s and 1970s when it appeared that transistor circuits and microprocessors might be able to copy the action of human brain by the year 2010, researchers lately have begun to extend that forecast by decades if (researchers are) not centuries 

transistor - semiconductor switching device
circuit n. electrical circuit, v. to go round, tour
microprocessor - processor
by decades - by several decades

Social

Social science is that branch of intellectual enquiry, which (antecedent: branch of intellectual enquiry) seeks to study humans and their endeavors in (adverbial of manner) the same reasoned, orderly, systematic, and dispassioned manner that natural scientists use (the object is missing here; it is the manner mentioned earlier) for the study of natural phenomena

curb n,v restraint; to restrain

Curbs (noun, subject) on business-method claims (applications) (prepositional phrase adding information) would be a dramatic about-face (complete reversal), because it was the Federal Circuit itself that introduced such patents with its 1998 decision in the so-called State Street Bank case, approving (comma + doing: a non-finite verb modifying the whole sentence. Look at the subject, the Federal Circuit, and its relationship to the verb: the Federal Circuit actively approved a patent in this area, namely pooling mutual-fund assets (pooling is a verb used as a noun)) a patent on a way of pooling mutual-fund assets

The Federal Circuit issued an unusual order stating (non-finite doing form modifying the nearby order; state is a verb here, so the following that introduces an object clause) that the case would be heard by all 12 court’s judges, rather than a typical panel of three (this parenthetical adds information to the preceding clause and splits the two coordinated object clauses apart (a split structure)), and (coordinated with the earlier that, so this is also part of what is stated) that one issue it wants to evaluate (subject-subject-verb-verb pattern: it wants to evaluate is a relative (attributive) clause; its that can be omitted because it acts as the object, and a relative pronoun that is not the subject can be dropped) is whether it should “reconsider” its State Street Bank ruling.

Railroads

Railroads justify (show… to be reasonable) rate (ratio; can also mean price) discrimination against (against sb usually means opposing sb; here it means directed at sb) captive shippers (shippers with no alternative carrier) on the grounds (on the basis of…) that (appositive clause) in the long run (in the long term) it reduces everyone’s cost

- against here means **directed at**
- rate: price
- on the grounds: based on...  on the basis of...

Shielded

Shielded by third-party payers (the party who pays) from the cost of our care, we demand everything that can possibly be done for us, even if it’s useless

- Shielded...from: protect... from
- Shielded...off: shut off, keep away...

The emphasis

The emphasis (on… is a prepositional phrase acting as a post-modifier) on data gathered (non-finite post-modifier of data, meaning "which was collected") first hand, combined (adverbial of accompanying circumstance) with a cross-cultural perspective brought (non-finite post-modifier of perspective, meaning "which is brought") to the analysis of cultures past and present, makes (the main verb) this study (object) a unique and distinctly important social science (object complement).

Shortlists

Shortlists for job interviews, election ballot papers, lists of conference speakers and attendees: all tend to be drawn up alphabetically, and (joins two simple sentences) their recipients lose interest as they plough through them

- Shortlists n: list of selected candidates; v: to put on a shortlist
- ballot n: vote, election; v: to vote
- draw up: to draft
- alphabetically: in alphabetical order
- plough through: to read with effort

: usually explains what comes before it; here it refers to the same thing as all (apposition)

whether

Subject clauses acting as the subject

However, whether such a sense of fairness evolved independently in capuchins and humans, or whether it stems from the common ancestor that the species had 35 million years ago, is, as yet, an unanswered question
- two coordinated subject clauses introduced by whether act as the subject of is
eg: What she said is

And one leading authority says that these intensely powerful mental events can be not only harnessed (made use of) but actually brought under consious control, to help us sleep and feel better.

Misfortune may be an actual (linked in speech here: /bi na/) blessing

department stores: large shops selling many kinds of goods

Stocks

Stocks rushed lower on a jarring (unsettling) inflation report, dashing hopes (shattered hopes) of many investors that prices would cool to allow The Federal Reserve to pause their aggressive effort to slow the economy with interest rate increases sometime soon.