What does "do" represent?

Question

The below sentence is from the book, "HOW TO STOP WORRYING AND START LIVING."

What I want to know is what does 'do' stand for?

It seems that in a quick glance 'do' represent 'pass through,' but it shows up in the following. But in the context, I cannot find any other alternative.

What do you think of this?

When we start in the morning, there are hundreds of tasks which we feel that we must accomplish that day, but if we do not take them one at a time and let them pass through the day slowly and evenly, as do the grains of sand passing through the narrow neck of the hourglass.

AlpheccaStars · Accepted Answer

Stenka25When we start in the morning, there are hundreds of tasks which we feel that we must accomplish that day, but if we do not take them one at a time and let them pass through the day slowly and evenly, as do the grains of sand passing through the narrow neck of the hourglass.

This is not a complete sentence. The clause after the conjunction "but" is a fragment.

Here is a version we can work with:

If we do not take them one at a time and them pass through the day slowly and evenly, as do the grains of sand passing through the narrow neck of the hourglass, we will be left with a big backlog of unfinished tasks at the end of the day.

Now we can examine the clause where grains is the subject and do is the verb:
"as do the grains of sand passing through the neck of the hourglass"

In this clause, the position of the verb is unusual, but it is still the main verb of the clause. It has been changed so that the participial phrase can be placed after "grains of sand."

The participial phrase passing through the neck of the hourglass is adjectival, modifying grains.

Another way of writing this is:
as the grains of sand do when they pass through the narrow neck of the hourglass.

Clive · Answer

Hi,

The below sentence is from the book, "HOW TO STOP WORRYING AND START LIVING."

What I want to know is what does 'do' stand for?

It seems that in a quick glance 'do' represent 'pass through,' Yes, 'pass through slowly and evenly' but it shows up in the following. But in the context, I cannot find any other alternative.

What do you think of this?

When we start in the morning, there are hundreds of tasks which we feel that we must accomplish that day, but if we do not take them one at a time and let them pass through the day slowly and evenly, as do the grains of sand passing through the narrow neck of the hourglass.

I have some trouble getting the meaning. Are you sure you have typed this sentence exactly as it was originally written, particularly in the area that I have italicized?

Clive

PS - I checked on the 'net, and found a version of this that suggests you did not complete the final sentence. This version makes sense.

When we start in the morning, there are hundreds of tasks which we feel that we must accomplish that day, but if we do not take them one at a time and let them pass through the day slowly and evenly, as do the grains of sand passing through the narrow neck of the hourglass, then we are bound to break our own physical and mental structure.”

http://22ideastreet.com/blog/notes/how-to-stop-worrying-and-start-living-your-life-outline/

Stenka25 · Answer

Thanks, AlpheccaStars.

What does "do" represent?

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