[General] based on

[LiuJing]

Based on new evidence, the investigation of the Al Gore's sex assault case will be re-opened.

Based on new evidence, investigators will re-open the case.

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My question is: the second sentence seems to have a dangled participle 'based on.... '. Is it acceptacle?

Thank you.

 

[TheParser]

Based on new evidence, the investigation of the Al Gore's sex assault case will be re-opened.

Based on new evidence, investigators will re-open the case.

---------------------------------------------------

My question is: the second sentence seems to have a dangled participle 'based on.... '. Is it acceptacle?

Thank you.

***** NOT A TEACHER *****

Hello, LiuJing.

(1) As you know, native speakers woud have no problem with

either sentence and would pay no attention to the dangling

participle.

(2) Serious students such as you make us native speakers pay

more attention, and that's a good thing.

(3) Yes, it is only my opinion that your first sentence is correct.

In other words, "based on new evidence" modifies the noun

"investigation."

(4) Yes, it is only my opinion that you are 100% correct: the participle

in the second sentence is "dangling." That is, the investigators cannot

be based on new evidence.

(a) After checking some sources, I have come to the conclusion that

maybe (maybe) there are three ways to rewrite it in "good" English:

(i) Because of new evidence, investigators will reopen the case.

(ii) Based on new evidence, the case will be reopened by investigators.

(iii) The investigators' decision to reopen the case is based on new

evidence. / The investigators' reopening of the case is based on new

evidence.

(a) In (iii), I learned a wonderful phrase that you may be interested in:

"phantom noun." That is, I had to find a noun for "based on new

evidence" to modify.

***** Thank you for your question *****

 

[LiuJing]

***** NOT A TEACHER *****

Hello, LiuJing.

(1) As you know, native speakers woud have no problem with

either sentence and would pay no attention to the dangling

participle.

(2) Serious students such as you make us native speakers pay

more attention, and that's a good thing.

(3) Yes, it is only my opinion that your first sentence is correct.

In other words, "based on new evidence" modifies the noun

"investigation."

(4) Yes, it is only my opinion that you are 100% correct: the participle

in the second sentence is "dangling." That is, the investigators cannot

be based on new evidence.

(a) After checking some sources, I have come to the conclusion that

maybe (maybe) there are three ways to rewrite it in "good" English:

(i) Because of new evidence, investigators will reopen the case.

(ii) Based on new evidence, the case will be reopened by investigators.

(iii) The investigators' decision to reopen the case is based on new

evidence. / The investigators' reopening of the case is based on new

evidence.

(a) In (iii), I learned a wonderful phrase that you may be interested in:

"phantom noun." That is, I had to find a noun for "based on new

evidence" to modify.

***** Thank you for your question *****

Thank you for your wonderful reply. There is no book that lists 'based on' as an absolute dangler, is it?

 

[TheParser]

LiuJing,

Thank you for your kind note.

I do not know of any books that discuss "based on" as a dangling participle.

But there are many articles on the World Wide Web. I think that some of

the articles are very authoritative. For example, the term "phantom noun"

comes from a lesson offered by Yale University -- one of our best universities.

Thank you.

 

[Raymott]

(1) As you know, native speakers would have no problem with
either sentence and would pay no attention to the dangling
participle.

That sounds like a rather sweeping generalisation. Perhaps you inadvertently left out "most" before "native speakers". As you might have noticed we have a few strict old-fashioined prescriptivists on the forum lately.
(Also, if LiuJing knew that, I guess s/he wouldn't have asked.)

I don't have a problem with either of those sentences.

 

[johnmattrick]

I have another correction:

"Basing on new evidence, investigators will re-open the case."

What do you think?

 

[Raymott]

I have another correction:

"Basing on new evidence, investigators will re-open the case."

What do you think?

Terrible.
By the way, where's Sinhuk?

 

[johnmattrick]

Terrible.
By the way, where's Sinhuk?

Huh? Terrible? Why? I think it's the reduction form of relative clause using present participle. It must be that people usually don't use it.

Where's Sinhuk? Google it. ^^

 

[Raymott]

Huh? Terrible? Why? I think it's the reduction form of relative clause using present participle. It must be that people usually don't use it.

Where's Sinhuk? Google it. ^^

Maybe, but "Basing what on new evidence? ..." It could have read: "Basing their ideas on new evidence, investigators will re-open the case." But it doesn't.

By the way, I did Google Sinhuk,or course, but I'm none the wiser about it's status as a national entity with Twain as an official language.

 

[bertietheblue]

Quite a few dangling participles are so commonly used, especially at the beginning of sentences, that they have become idiomatic and are recognised as prepositions, eg 'considering', 'regarding', 'given' (and quite a few more if you google 'marginal prepositions').

I don't think 'based on', as used in your second sentence, is quite there yet. There are still some who consider 'based' to be a dangling participle here, whilst others have no problem seeing 'based on' as a complex preposition. ('Judging from' is, I think, another phrase somewhere in between the two camps, whereas 'according to', for example, is fully recognised as a preposition.) That said, I think its use as a preposition simply meaning 'on the basis of' is so widespread that its acceptance as an established idiom can't be far off.