Skip to main content

Hello, everyone!

For one difficult sentence in following paragraph I’m wondering about its sentence structure;
Compounding the difficulty, now more than ever, is what ergonomists call information overload

How do you analysize the normal sentence of above before inversion or clefting, while I am assuming it as follows?;

1. before reversed pseudo clefting with ‘what’; “Ergonomists call compounding the difficulty information overload.” (S+V+O+C, ‘compounding’ as a gerund),
or
2. before inversion; “What they call information overload is compounding the difficulty.” (‘compounding’ as a present participle)

“Clarity is often a difficult thing for a leader to obtain. Concerns of the present tend to seem larger than potentially greater concerns that lie farther away. Some decisions by their nature present great complexity, whose many variables must come together a certain way for the leader to succeed. Compounding the difficulty, now more than ever, is what ergonomists call information overload, where a leader is overrun with inputs ― via e-mails, meetings, and phone calls ― that only distract and confuse her thinking. Alternatively, the leader’s information might be only fragmentary, which might cause her to fill in the gaps with assumptions ― sometimes without recognizing them as such. And the merits of a leader’s most important decisions, by their nature, typically are not clear-cut. Instead those decisions involve a process of assigning weights to competing interests, and then determining, based upon some criterion, which one predominates. The result is one of judgment, of shades of gray; like saying that Beethoven is a better composer than Brahms.”

* source;

https://books.google.co.kr/boo...mists%22&f=false


Would wait for your various clarifications,

Thanks and best RGDS,

Original Post

Replies sorted oldest to newest

@deepcosmos posted:


How do you analysize the normal sentence of above before inversion or clefting, while I am assuming it as follows?;

1. before reversed pseudo clefting with ‘what’; “Ergonomists call compounding the difficulty information overload.” (S+V+O+C, ‘compounding’ as a gerund),
or
2. before inversion; “What they call information overload is compounding the difficulty.” (‘compounding’ as a present participle)

“Clarity is often a difficult thing for a leader to obtain. Concerns of the present tend to seem larger than potentially greater concerns that lie farther away. Some decisions by their nature present great complexity, whose many variables must come together a certain way for the leader to succeed. Compounding the difficulty, now more than ever, is what ergonomists call information overload, where a leader is overrun with inputs ― via e-mails, meetings, and phone calls ― that only distract and confuse her thinking.

Hi, Deepcosmos—While both ways of parsing the sentence are grammatically possible, only the present-participle parsing makes sense in the context.

The economists are not calling compounding the difficulty information overload. Rather, information overload is compounding the difficulty.

By means of the fronting and inversion, the writer has enabled "information overload" to be conveniently modified by a long nonrestrictive relative clause.

Last edited by David, Moderator

Hi, Deepcosmos—While both ways of parsing the sentence are grammatically possible, only the present-participle parsing makes sense in the context.

The economists are not calling compounding the difficulty information overload. Rather, information overload is compounding the difficulty.

By means of the fronting and inversion, the writer has enabled "information overload" to be conveniently modified by a long nonrestrictive relative clause.

Hi, David, much appreciate your clarification.

Best RGDS

Add Reply

×
×
×
×
Link copied to your clipboard.
×