Are these 4 sentences correct and have the same meaning?

Question

hi, Are these 4 sentences correct and have the same meaning?If yes, which one may be the best?I could know how clever each student was by knowing their problems.  I could know how clever each student was, by knowing their problems.  By knowing their problems, I could know how clever each student was.By knowing their problems I could know how clever each student was.thanks

Clive · Accepted Answer

Hi,

The ways you are using 'know' here are not really correct.

Let me rewrite your first one, to show you.

I could tell/see how clever each student was by finding out their problems.

tell / see - determine information, discover information, obtain information

eg I could tell/see he was hurt because he was bleeding a lot.

find out - seek out and obtain information

eg I found out his phone number by looking in the phone book.

'Tell' is less active than 'find out'. The latter suggests I perfomed some action.

Perhaps you'd like to revise your original post.

Best wishes, Clive

Uktous · Answer

hi, clive, I am not good at writing

Do the following 4 sentences have the same meaning and correct?

I could see how clever each student was, by finding out their problems.
I could see how clever each student was by finding out their problems.
By finding out their problems I could see how clever each student was.
By finding out their problems, I could see how clever each student was.

Ter · Answer

You don't need to put a comma in front of "by".

The comma is in the correct place in the fourth example.

Are these 4 sentences correct and have the same meaning?

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