Or perhaps he was trying to crack the movement of a passage like this one.

NEWYORKER: Late and Soon

At such moments, the reader starts developing a few scruples of his own, one of which is: a passage like this is neither good fiction nor meaningful historical writing.

NEWYORKER: Broken Record

That does not affect their electrical conductivity, but nanoscale particles like this are known to scatter and obstruct the passage of heat through imperfectly understood quantum-mechanical processes.

ECONOMIST: Solar power