misrelated participle

[sitifan]

Many factors need to be taken into account when considering the qualities of good learners. (p7, How to Teach English, Jeremy Harmer)

Is the above sentence acceptable?

[Inga]

I think it is.
_________________
I am an incurable optimist.

[Molly]

It's fine. The "full" form would be:

Many factors need to be taken into account when one/you/we is/are considering the qualities of good learners.

[sitifan]

But I was taught that dangling participles are not acceptable.
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Thank you very much for your reply.

[Molly]

[stew.t.]

Hi sitifan,

It is grammatically acceptable as a shortened version of the example in full Molly gave.

However I would add that if one was to choose one then "are" should be "is considering". However the use of one is sometimes considered quite old fashioned or just an element of one´s personality. Even to the extent that people use it to make fun of someone.

"Is that what one really wanted to say".

"Yes sure was".

cheers stew.t.

[Molly]

[stew.t.]

Hi Molly

Not really, just an error that happens now and again.

What is your excuse for not including "is" in the first instance?

cheers stew.t.

[Molly]

[prezbucky]

muhahahahaha

yes, and don't fall into the trap of referring to a single person as "they". One person cannot logically be a "they"... unless, I suppose, that person exhibits multiple personalities.

lol

you might be wrong sex-wise, but at least you'll be gramatically correct to say something like:

"A person generally eats his supper at a table."

rather than

"A person generally eats their supper at a table."

There is a possible solution to this frustration:

Gender-neutral singular pronouns. With them, we could pair singular subjects with singular pronouns (as we should!) without offending anyone... and without having to use "he or she" and "his or her".

His/her = heirs (pronounced "hairs")

He/she = heir ("hair")

And we would have:

"The person eats heirs food" (The person eats his or her food.)

"Heir doesn't know what heir's doing." (He/she doesn't know what he/she is doing.)

Of course, heir/heirs would only be necessary in cases of sexual uncertainty/ambiguity -- if you know the sex of the person to whom you're referring, by all means you should use he/she or his/her.

[Molly]