BASED vs ACCORDING TO vs DEPENDING ON

Question

Which would you say?1 You get your ascendant rising depending/based on/according to your time of birth. You're born at 9pm, making you Aries ascending/rising. (astrology)2 According to your skill level/depending on/based on your level of play, choose the level of play that suits you. (video game)3 Based on/according to/depending on his info, choose the location for the venue you think might be best.Using HOLD OUT?How long do you think I'll hold out being a vegetarian?Thank you

Mr Wordy · Accepted Answer

By normal standards, "depending on", "based on" and "according to" are all OK in all three sentences. More pickily, I have various misgivings about certain combinations, but these are complicated to explain and probably too pedantic to mention here.

1 You get your ascendant rising depending on/based on/according to your time of birth. You're born at 9pm, making you Aries ascending/rising. (astrology) -- I don't know if "your ascendant rising" is correct English. I'm wondering if it should just be "your ascendant". My knowledge of astrological terminology is not strong though.

2 According to your skill level/depending on/based on your level of play, choose the level of play that suits you. (video game) -- the repetition of "level of play" is ugly.

3 Based on/according to/depending on his info, choose the location for the venue you think might be best. -- avoid "info" except in casual writing.

How long do you think I'll hold out being a vegetarian? -- Fine in everyday English, but not suitable for formal English.

Alc24 · Answer

Thank you Mr Wordy,

For each sentence which would you prefer.
And do you think you can give me a few sentences where only one of the choices can be used rather than all of them.

This is what I would lean towards

1 You get your ascendant based on your date of birth.
2 Depending on your skill level, choose the difficulty level that suits you.
3 Based on the information his supplied, choose the location for the venue you think might be best.

How would you say 4 if it were written English?

Thank you Mr Wordy

Mr Wordy · Answer

alc24For each sentence which would you prefer?

I think I agree with your choices.

alc24And do you think you can give me a few sentences where only one of the choices can be used rather than all of them.

"depending on", "based on" and "according to" can all be used in several different ways within a sentence, which makes this a more complicated question than perhaps you had in mind. In the following sentences, the choice given is the only possible one, and any other choice is either unnatural or completely changes the meaning:

"The film was based on real-life events."

"I'm depending on you."

"According to my sister, they're to be married."

Here are some more examples, more in the spirit of your original sentences, where the choice given seems to me to be the only one or much the preferable one:

"Based on all the available evidence, I reached the following conclusions."

"Depending on the weather, we may or may not go."

"His possessons were distributed according to his will."

alc24How would you say 4 if it were written English?

When I say "everyday English", this includes everyday written English, and covers, in practice, the great majority of situations in which one uses either spoken or written English. Since this isn't a very likely sentence to use at all in formal English, let me change it around a little. In everday English you could say "I held out as a vegetarian for six months". In more formal English you could say "I remained a vegetarian for six months".

BASED vs ACCORDING TO vs DEPENDING ON

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