Sunday, July 29, 2018

grammar - How does 'the better to ——' equate with 'So as to —— better'?




7. the better to ——   =   So as to —— better:



This comment revealed this grammatical confusion of mine.


1. On the left-hand side (abbreviated as LHS) above, 'the better' is a noun.


2. Yet on the right-hand side, 'better' is an adverb, modifying the infinitive 'to ——' ? This contradicts 1?
3. Also, 'so as to' just seems to have adventitiously appeared, since it's absent on the LHS?


So how can these two phrases be equal?




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