Is it wrong to omit "by" from "by comparing the sales figures.."?

Question

I have made up the examples below.(1a) By comparing the sales figures for the last four years, Jack figured out why his business has been in decline.(1b) Comparing the sales figures for the last four years, Jack figured out why his business has been in decline.Is it wrong to omit "by" from (1b)? Thank you.

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

ansonguyIs it wrong to omit "by" from (1b)?

Yes. It does not say what you mean. With "by", it does.

CalifJim · Answer

ansonguy
I have made up the examples below.
(1a) By comparing the sales figures for the last four years, Jack figured out why his business has been in decline.
(1b) Comparing the sales figures for the last four years, Jack figured out why his business has been in decline.
Is it wrong to omit "by" from (1b)? Thank you.

No. 'by' is frequently omitted before an introductory participle clause.

Driving around the neighborhood, you can get a pretty good idea of home prices here.
Working together, we should be able to protect those in need.
Merging the data, they identify which voters to target.

Here are some examples with initial 'by' that I found online. I think you could drop the initial 'by' without changing the meanings significantly, but sometimes the absence of 'by' makes the sentence seem a little incomplete.

By concentrating on these patterns, users can evaluate the data more accurately.
By acting out the fraud on camera, he hopes to bring down the exorcism industry.
By educating people about the surgery, we hope to improve their quality of life.
By visiting their bandcamp page, you can get a sample of what the band are about.
By trading Jokinen, general manager Jacques Martin hoped to improve his defense.

CJ

Is it wrong to omit "by" from "by comparing the sales figures.."?

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