Learn English – How to interpret this kind of sentence

ambiguitymeaning

I have a question related to an example sentence below. I always have slight doubt in interpreting sentences which have this kind of clauses being connected.

Consider this sentence:

The book covers the fundamental building blocks of digital design across several levels of abstraction, from CMOS gates to hardware design languages.

Here, to which part of the first clause in the sentence is the second clause — "from CMOS gates to hardware design languages" — related?
I mean whether CMOS gates and hardware design languages are

  • fundamental building blocks of digital design, or
  • several levels of abstraction.

Best Answer

In the sentence:

The book covers the fundamental building blocks of digital design across several levels of abstraction, from CMOS gates to hardware design languages.

there is only one clause, which is the main idea in the sentence:

The book covers the fundamental building blocks of digital design

The following

  • across several levels of abstraction
  • from CMOS gates to hardware design languages

are adverbial phrases that both modify the verb covers. The first indicates the range of the cover ("across several levels of abstraction"), while the other delineates arbitrary boundaries ("CMOS gates", "hardware design languages") of that range. Thus, CMOS gates and hardware design languages

  • are two of the fundamental building blocks of digital design and
  • they occupy two of the several levels of abstraction indicated

Also, one could consider from CMOS gates to hardware design languages as a submodifier, as its absence does not take much away from the sentence:

The book covers the fundamental building blocks of digital design across several levels of abstraction[, from CMOS gates to hardware design languages].

However, it is also a proper modifier in its own right:

The book covers the fundamental building blocks of digital design[ across several levels of abstraction], from CMOS gates to hardware design languages.

Finally, I should point out that the entire sentence can also be correctly regarded as a clause. In the example below, it is used as the main clause:

Although it lacks some crucial supplementary material, the book covers the fundamental building blocks of digital design across several levels of abstraction, from CMOS gates to hardware design languages.

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