EI Nino, the periodic abnormal warming of the sea surface off Peru, is a phenomenon in which changes in the ocean and atmosphere combine to allow the warm water that is accumulated in the western Pacific to flow back to the east.
Here, the entire clause in blue is an essential modifier serving to describe not
El Nino but
a phenomenon.
Since this clause is an ESSENTIAL modifier, it cannot be removed without altering the meaning of the sentence.
We can, however, remove the non-essential modifier in red.
The result is the core meaning of the sentence:
El Nino is a phenomenon in which changes in the ocean and atmosphere combine to allow the warm water that is accumulated in the western Pacific to flow back to the east.
The simple sentence structure is "EI Nino is a phenomenon to allow the warm water to flow back to the east". Am I correct?
In the OA,
to allow does not refer to
a phenomenon.
Rather,
to allow is an ADVERB serving to modify
combine, expressing WHY changes in the ocean and atmosphere COMBINE.
Question: WHY do changes in the ocean and atmosphere combine?
Answer: They combine
TO ALLOW the warm water that is accumulated in the western Pacific to flow back to the east.
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