To be twisted and turned...?
This excerpt is from the Shining by Stephen King.
But on other nights his father would only sweep him into a giggling ecstasy, through the zone of air where beer hung around his father's face like a mist of raindrops, to be twisted and turned and shaken like a laughing rag, and finally to be set down on his feet, hiccuping with reaction.
I have previously asked it here.
https://www.italki.com/question/391621
But I can't quite understand the grammar structure behind this part: "to be twisted and turned and shaken...hiccuping with reaction"?
Is it an abbreviation of "..., (with) him to be twisted and turned and shaken like a laughing rag, and finally to be set down on his feet, hiccuping with reaction"?
Thank you in advance.
Top answer
But on other nights his father would only sweep him [into a giggling ecstasy][ , through the zone of air where beer hung around his father's face like a mist of raindrops,] to be twisted and turned and shaken like a laughing rag, and finally to be set down on his feet, hiccuping with reaction. The bracketed elements are adverbial prepositional phrases. If you eliminate them, you can see the sentence structure more clearly.
- But on other nights his father would only sweep him [into a giggling ecstasy][ , through the zone of air where beer hung around his father's face like a mist of raindrops,] to be twisted and turned and shaken like a laughing rag, and finally to be set down on his feet, hiccuping with reaction.
- The bracketed elements are adverbial prepositional phrases.
- If you eliminate them, you can see the sentence structure more clearly.
- But on other nights his father would only sweep him to be twisted and turned and shaken like a laughing rag, and finally to be set down on his feet, hiccuping with reaction.
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But on other nights his father would only sweep him [into a giggling ecstasy][ , through the zone of air where beer hung around his father's face like a mist of raindrops,] to be twisted and turned and shaken like a laughing rag, and finally to be set down on his feet, hiccuping with reaction.
The bracketed elements are adverbial prepositional phrases. If you eliminate them, you can
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