I don't understand this sentence:
At the Republican end of the Senate lobby the UPI ticker, ignored, had clattered out its lengthening page of historic bulletins. The AP machine stirred and clanged. In the torpor induced by the federal library debate it, too, would have been overlooked had not Senator Wayne Morse's hunger for news been insatiable. Phyllis Rock of his office was maintaining a vigil near the AP teletype. At 1:41 she checked it and cried out. Richard Riedel tossed down his newspaper, came over, and read:】

I don't understand this sentence:

In the torpor induced by the federal library debate it, too, would have been overlooked had not Senator Wayne Morse's hunger for news been insatiable.

Question

I don't understand this sentence:
At the Republican end of the Senate lobby the UPI ticker, ignored, had clattered out its lengthening page of historic bulletins. The AP machine stirred and clanged. In the torpor induced by the federal library debate it, too, would have been overlooked had not Senator Wayne Morse's hunger for news been insatiable. Phyllis Rock of his office was maintaining a vigil near the AP teletype. At 1:41 she checked it and cried out. Richard Riedel tossed down his newspaper, came over, and read:】

I don't understand this sentence:

In the torpor induced by the federal library debate it, too, would have been overlooked had not Senator Wayne Morse's hunger for news been insatiable.

Answer

I think there is a miss-placed comma that changes the sentence so that it cannot be understood. It should be "debate, it too, would". Now it's clear that the "federal library debate" caused the "torpor". "it too" refers to the "AP machine" being ignored just as the "UPI ticker" had been ignored.

Answer

In the sentence you ask about, "it" refers to the API news ticker. The sentence means that "it, too" would have been ignored except that Senator Wayne Morse always wanted to know the latest news stories. So, someone from his office (Phyllis Rock) was always reading the API ticker for him.

And there is no misplaced comma in the paragraph.

Answers · 2

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