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Mon 7 Dec, 2009 10:39 pm
it does so = it does "predicting?" or
it does so = it does "maintaining meaning, or coherence"?
Context:
In a series of new papers, Dr. Proulx and Steven J. Heine, a professor of psychology at the University of British Columbia, argue that these findings are variations on the same process: maintaining meaning, or coherence. The brain evolved to predict,
and it does so by identifying patterns.
Full context:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/06/health/06mind.html?_r=1
"does so" = "does this (or that)" and refers to the preceding verb, "to predict".
Avoids clumsy repetition.
We can substitute, taking care to preserve tense of "does"
The brain evolved to predict, and it does so (i.e. predicts) by identifying patterns.
My sister became a judge before she was forty, and she did so by means of intelligence and hard work.
The house was on fire. I had to escape, and I had to do so quickly.
I needed to climb the wall, and I was able to do so because there was a ladder nearby.
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