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Stenka25 Posted 14 years ago
Grammar
What is the subject of the "based"
The paragraph below is from a website known as "LOST TREASURE STORIES".
http://beachcomber-contractor.weebly.com/lost-treasure-stories.html
In the text, the underlined part seems a bit odd because I cannot figure out the subject of the "based." In a way "he" seems to be the subject of "based," but that assumption seems to be out of sense in the another.
Can you give me your answer?
At the age of 90 a man once again proudly wears his school class ring. In 1938 as an 18-year-old at work he accidentally flushed the ring down the toilet. A city worker found the ring and recognized the crest as the same high school from which he had graduated. Based on the few clues the ring provided, like the year 1938 and the initials etched inside the band, he set about to hunt down the owner of the ring.
http://beachcomber-contractor.weebly.com/lost-treasure-stories.html
In the text, the underlined part seems a bit odd because I cannot figure out the subject of the "based." In a way "he" seems to be the subject of "based," but that assumption seems to be out of sense in the another.
Can you give me your answer?
At the age of 90 a man once again proudly wears his school class ring. In 1938 as an 18-year-old at work he accidentally flushed the ring down the toilet. A city worker found the ring and recognized the crest as the same high school from which he had graduated. Based on the few clues the ring provided, like the year 1938 and the initials etched inside the band, he set about to hunt down the owner of the ring.
Top answer
Some people might argue that "based on" has no subject. But, for the sake of discussion , I'll say that I see the entire clause he set about to hunt down the owner of the ring as the subject of "based on". If we rearrange the sentence as His setting about to find the owner of the ring was based on the few clues the ring provided , like the year 1938 and the initials etched inside the band.
- Some people might argue that "based on" has no subject.
- But, for the sake of discussion , I'll say that I see the entire clause he set about to hunt down the owner of the ring as the subject of "based on".
- If we rearrange the sentence as His setting about to find the owner of the ring was based on the few clues the ring provided , like the year 1938 and the initials etched inside the band.
- the connection between "his setting about to find the owner of the ring"and "based on" becomes evident.
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10 Answers
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Some people might argue that "based on" has no subject. But, for the sake of discussion , I'll say that I see the entire clause he set about to hunt down the owner of the ring as the subject of "based on".
If we rearrange the sentence as
His setting about to find the owner of the ring was based on the few clues the ring provided , like the year 1938 and the initials
If we rearrange the sentence as
His setting about to find the owner of the ring was based on the few clues the ring provided , like the year 1938 and the initials
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The writer should have used "with" and then the phrase becomes a proper adverbial prepositional phrase. I consider it to be a (small)
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Hi,
A small edit.
. . . he set aboutto hunt hunting down the owner of the ring
Clive
A small edit.
. . . he set about
Clive
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Clive, apparently both are possible http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/set+about
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Who knows? Could be. I'm not the one to ask. I only know AmE and the little BrE I hear on imported TV shows.
I suppose if I were really curious, and thought it would give a definitive answer, I'd try to learn how to do one of those fancy searches on Google where you can restrict the search to the UK.
I suppose if I were really curious, and thought it would give a definitive answer, I'd try to learn how to do one of those fancy searches on Google where you can restrict the search to the UK.
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CliveHi,Perhaps it's a British English / American English difference?CliveThe Cambridge online dictionary seems to support your claim that only "verb+ing" is possible (correct) after "set about" in BrE. So, you could be right about this being yet another AmE /BrE difference.
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The British National Corpus (http://corpus.byu.edu/bnc/) has 322 examples of 'set about + -ing form' and only five of 'set about + to infinitive'.
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