than is
"His army rebelled in Spain; this arose from nothing but his too great forbearance, which gave his soldiers more license than is consistent with military discipline."

Could anyone explain the part "than is"? What word is omitted before is? What kind of sentence structure is this? Thank you!

Question

than is
"His army rebelled in Spain; this arose from nothing but his too great forbearance, which gave his soldiers more license than is consistent with military discipline."

Could anyone explain the part "than is"? What word is omitted before is? What kind of sentence structure is this? Thank you!

Answer

It's the 'more than' which is the important bit.
A simpler example could be '$100 is more than is required to buy a meal at McDonalds'.
In your example, the person has great forebearance (restraint), which gave his soldiers the confidence to rebel. This restraint was not usually expected from a military commander.

Answers · 1

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