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Abil Posted 18 years ago
Grammar

By taking the advantage

By taking the advantage of the fluid situation now obtaining in the country, the business community, backed by their foreign partners, forced / prodded the embattled president to issue an ordinance in their favour.

Is the "By" optional and the sentence correct?
  

Top answer

By taking the advantage of the fluid situation now present obtaining in the country, the business community, backed by their foreign partners, have forced / prodded the embattled president to issue an ordinance in their favour. By is optional here.

— Optilang

  • By taking the advantage of the fluid situation now present obtaining in the country, the business community, backed by their foreign partners, have forced / prodded the embattled president to issue an ordinance in their favour.
  • By is optional here.
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6 Answers
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By taking the advantage of the fluid situation now present obtaining in the country, the business community, backed by their foreign partners, have forced / prodded the embattled president to issue an ordinance in their favour.

By is optional here.
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Thanks Optilang. Have you replaced "obtaining" with "present" for the sake of style? Or you have thought "obtaining" was a wrong choice?
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It doesn't sound right.

I wasn't sure what you meant by it.
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Optilang, can "prevailing" also be replaced?

I read "the situation now obtaining" (meaning prevailing) many a time in non-native writer's books and articles.
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Prevailing is fine.
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Thanks Optilang.
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