como para

Question

I have a question regarding a sentence Natasha posted in another thread.

...opinaba que era matemáticamente imposible que la criada pecase lo suficiente como para mantener semejante ritmo de confesión.

Is the como necessary or optional here?

If it is necessary, what is the rule for using it?

If it is optional, would the nuance of the sentence be changed by its omission'

Answer 1

Very interesting, and now what you say is obvious to me. So, I guess we could say the rule is that como para is used whenever the use of para alone would change the meaning of the sentence.

Thanks for the good explanation.

Answer 2

Very often that "como" is optional, and all it does is making the sentence more expressive, if anything. For example:

To tengo suficiente dinero (como) para comprarme un coche.

In your sentence, however, I think that it is justified, because without "como", the sentence could be understood as "sinning with the purpose of keeping...", "sinning in order to try to keep...", which is not the intended meaning.

But I need to think more about this, just in case I missed something.