If we omit the second to in the OA, we get:ngk4mba3236 wrote:won't it be better if it were : proposed a return to communal ownership of land, what had been a pre-Columbian form of ownership... ? ("to" is dropped here to make the TWO NOUNS in APPOSITION appear exactly side-by-side)
your thoughts please!
a return to communal ownership of land, what had been a pre-Columbian form of ownership.
Here, the portion in red seems to be in apposition to the noun in blue, conveying that LAND = what had been a pre-Columbian form of ownership.
Not the intended meaning.
Actual OA:
a return to communal ownership of land, to what had been a pre-Columbian form of ownership respected by the Spaniards.
Here, each colored portion serves as an object of the preposition to.
Since the two colored portions serve the same function, it is crystal clear that the red portion is in apposition to the entire blue portion, conveying that COMMUNAL OWNERSHIP OF LAND = what had been a pre-Columbian form of ownership.
An analogous structure appears in SC67 in the OG16:
https://www.beatthegmat.com/can-two-inde ... 83697.html