Como para

[Tyrn]

Hi,

Henry contuvo el mareo lo bastante como para distinguir las luces del techo: era un coche de la policía.

Sometimes para comes with como ahead of it. Why?

[Rusty]

The phrase 'como para' often appears after certain quantifiers, like '(lo) bastante', '(lo) suficiente', 'tanto', or 'demasiado'. Sometimes, 'como' can be omitted as long as the meaning is understood.
I like to think that the quantifier makes the case for the extra wording to make 'para' take on its 'in order to' meaning.

[Tyrn]

So it boils down to como before para being sort of redundant, but not quite. Or does it?

Could you suggest a sentence where meaning would be lost without como?

[poli]

[Como para is a weaker attempt than para alone. I see como para to mean as if to as opposed to para which is direct for to distiguish

Le dijo meniras como para calmar los miedos del niño (like an attempt to calm the child's fear.

le dijo mentiras para calmar los miedos del niño He told a lie to calm the child's fear.

[Tyrn]

Sounds plausible enough, poli, but does it really hold water? None of the examples I ever saw can be explained this way. Rusty's in order to looks much more convincing. My only problem is, para usually looks like in order to even without como. So I'll stick to the markers like lo bastante for the time being.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

"Como para" introduces some sort of implicit comparison, while "para" expresses an intended purpose. This is why it often goes accompanied of words like "suficiente", "bastante", "demasiado", etc. The combination is not superfluous and it does add a nuance in the sentences.
- Esta es una casa como para pasar mis vacaciones. -> In comparison with any other house, this one would be perfect to spend my holidays.
- Esta es una casa para pasar mis vacaciones. -> I intend to spend holidays in this house.

- No es como para que te pongas así. -> There are many things for which you should be upset. This is not one of them.
- No es para que te pongas así. -> The situation was not meant to upset you.

- Contuvo el mareo lo bastante como para distinguir las luces del techo. -> He managed to be aware of what the lights came from, despite his previous state.
- Contuvo el mareo lo bastante para distinguir las luces del techo. -> His purpose, trying to stay in control of himself, was specifically to know what those lights were.

- Nuestro hijo siempre se comporta como para estar orgullosos de él. -> Our son is the source of our pride (probably in comparison with other children or with a possibility that he wouldn't be so well-behaved).
- Nuestro hijo siempre se comporta para estar orgullosos de él. -> He expects us to be always proud of him.


In some cases both may overlap, but the context helps to clarify:
- La comida es demasiado cara como para desperdiciarla. -> The possibility that food would be wasted is out of the question, because it's too expensive.
- La comida es demasiado cara para desperdiciarla. -> You obviously wouldn't have the specific purpose of wasting expensive food, so the "como" may be excluded.

- No estudié lo suficiente como para pasar el examen. -> I studied, but not as much as I could have.
- No estudié lo suficiente para pasar el examen. -> Mostly the same meaning: I wanted to pass the exam, but I didn't manage to do it.

- Eres muy inteligente como para trabajar en esta empresa. -> This business is too little for someone as smart as you are; you shouldn't be working here.
- Eres muy inteligente para trabajar en esta empresa. -> Since you can't have the purpose of being smart in order to work in this business, the context sets the actual meaning of the sentence.

[Tyrn]

Thank you very much, Angelica!