usage of the phrase - 'Based on'

Question

Hi everybody, Can anyone tell me how we would use the phrase - 'Based on' ?How does it modify the sentence that comes after it?Thanks,Gayathri

Fandorin · Accepted Answer

Hi. Welcome to English Forums. Sure, we can.

"Based on" is commonly used phrase which suggest some facts are considered being proven or taken "as is".

Based on Darwin theory, a natural selection is a force of nature adaptation.

Based on the facts offered, we can conclude we had better make a deal.

It's not a theory, it's a fact, based on the research I made two years ago.

Yankee · Answer

"Based on" typically explains what the foundation of something is.

It often tells the reader which information was taken into consideration before you drew a conclusion or made a particular assumption about something.

In a sentence such as the following, it basically means that information contained in a novel was used as a foundation for a movie, but not absolutely everything portrayed in the movie is necessarily exactly the same as what was in the novel:

- The movie is based on a novel written in 1925.

Gayathri Redlapalli · Answer

Thanks for the warm invite.

Would you please clarify the questions that i marked against each example below.

FandorinHi. Welcome to English Forums. Sure, we can.

"Based on" is commonly used phrase which suggest some facts are considered being proven or taken "as is".

Based on Darwin theory, a natural selection is a force of nature adaptation.

In this example it is the natural selection that has been modified

Based on the facts offered, we can conclude we had better make a deal.

In this one, what is that, which was modified - is it we or conclusion ?

It's not a theory, it's a fact, based on the research I made two years ago.

Yankee · Answer

Based on the customer feedback we've been getting, I recommend that we redesign the product to make it easier to use.

In the sentence above, I'd say the "based on" clause modifies the whole idea contained in the main clause. The "based on" clause is adverbial. It basically tells you why I am making a particular recommendation.

Gayathri Redlapalli · Answer

Exactly this is the way I perceived, But Iam confused with the answer provided to a sentence correction that I have listed below .

question: Based on accounts of various ancient writers, scholars have painted a sketchy pictures of the activities of all female-cult that perhaps as early as the sixth century B.C, worshipped a goddess known in latin as Bona dea, "the good goddess".

Options:

a. Based on accounts of various ancient writers

b. Basing it on various ancient writers' accounts

c. With accounts of various ancient writers used for a basis

d. Using accounts of various ancient writers

Here I feel that the given sentence in Q itself is right ( i.e option a), but the answer is option d.

Below is the explanation given against the answer.

explanation as to why option 'a' was wrong :

Based on modifies scholars, the noun that immediately follows it : in other words option 'a' says that scholars were based on the accounts of various ancient writers.

explanation as to why option 'd' is right:

It correctly uses a present participle to introduce a modifier describing how the scholars worked.

Can you please explain ?

Gayathri Redlapalli · Answer

Hi Yankee,

Can I call you that way?

Was I not clear in the given Question?

Gayathri RedlapalliExactly this is the way I perceived, But Iam confused with the answer provided to a sentence correction that I have listed below .

question: Based on accounts of various ancient writers, scholars have painted a sketchy pictures of the activities of all female-cult that perhaps as early as the sixth century B.C, worshipped a goddess known in latin as Bona dea, "the good goddess".

Options:

a. Based on accounts of various ancient writers

b. Basing it on various ancient writers' accounts

c. With accounts of various ancient writers used for a basis

d. Using accounts of various ancient writers

Here I feel that the given sentence in Q itself is right ( i.e option a), but the answer is option d.

Below is the explanation given against the answer.

explanation as to why option 'a' was wrong :

Based on modifies scholars, the noun that immediately follows it : in other words option 'a' says that scholars were based on the accounts of various ancient writers.

explanation as to why option 'd' is right:

It correctly uses a present participle to introduce a modifier describing how the scholars worked.

Can you please explain ?

Yankee · Answer

Hi Gayathri
(You can call me Amy.

)

Well, I suppose there are any number of people wanting to inform me right now that the sentence in my last post had a dangling participle, and I suppose that is technically true.

The second half of my sentence basically consisted entirely of my recommendation, and that is why I looked at the sentence the way I did. I'd say the way my sentence was worded was a typical example of the way people actually use "based on", and I'd also say that no one would misunderstand it. Nevertheless, a picky writer would most likely find the following rewording to be grammatically preferable:

- Based on the customer feedback we've been getting, my recommendation is that we redesign the product to make it easier to use.

With that rewording, "based on" modifies "my recommendation". However, I'd like to point out again that everything else in that half of the sentence is also my recommendation.

I'd also like to mention that some usages that were previously disparaged as "dangling" are now considered "acceptable danglers". If "based on" is not already considered to be an "acceptable dangler", I'd say it may well be headed in that direction -- at least for certain types of sentences.

Now let's look at your sentence:

Gayathri Redlapalliquestion: Based on accounts of various ancient writers, scholars have painted a sketchy pictures of the activities of all female-cult that perhaps as early as the sixth century B.C, worshipped a goddess known in latin as Bona dea, "the good goddess".

Your sentence in more complex, and thus it is more difficult to "undangle" the phrase "based on". You might start this way:
"Based on accounts of various ancient writers, sketchy pictures have been painted by scholars"...
For me, "based on" would then modify "sketchy pictures", and that makes perfect sense. However, with that change in wording, the sentence runs into trouble again after the word "scholars".

You could try this approach instead:

"Basing their work on accounts of various ancient writers, scholars have painted sketchy pictures..."

In that version, I'd say "basing" acceptably modifies "scholars". Although the use of "basing" works, the word "their" tends to be confusing. So, it is ultimately simpler to say "Using accounts".

If I had been given your test and told to choose between options a, b, c, and d, I think I would in fact have chosen d ("using").

I hope that helps. Maybe somebody else will comment further.

Gayathri Redlapalli · Answer

Hi Amy,

Thanks for the comprehensive explanation!

You made me interpret the subtle differences, that I may not have done by myself.

Thanks again

Gayathri

Anonymous · Answer

Your first two examples are bad. They are examples of incorrect usage. Please see the Chicago Manual of Style, 16th edition, Page 269, for an explanation.

You need to know the subject matter before you can offer advice!

usage of the phrase - 'Based on'

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