SC 5th ed , pg 93 q15: The patient's rare disease...

[gmatters]

Hi,

I do not argue that in sentence "The patient's rare disease was treated using novel techniques", the modifier "using" is dangling.

My question is: is it also correct to write: "The patient's rare disease was treated by using novel techniques"? Can "by" be used instead of "through"?

Thanks

[ramendra.awesome]

Hi,

I do not argue that in sentence "The patient's rare disease was treated using novel techniques", the modifier "using" is dangling.

My question is: is it also correct to write: "The patient's rare disease was treated by using novel techniques"? Can "by" be used instead of "through"?

Thanks

In my opinion: By can be used for only actual doer of the action. To illustrate: The patient's rare disease was treated by the new doctor at the local hospital.

For any thing else that is not the actual doer, use of preposition 'by' is not appropriate. You may user other prepositions such as 'with', 'through', etc.

[tim]

I think the GMAT would still consider this incorrect regardless of which preposition you use, because we still don't know who is doing the "using".

[ramendra.awesome]

I think the GMAT would still consider this incorrect regardless of which preposition you use, because we still don't know who is doing the "using".

Yes, but in that case 'using' would not be required anymore. Example follows:

It is correct to say: The problem in the existing software was fixed with the new patch.

While saying, The problem in the existing software was fixed by the new patch. is not appropriate.

And saying , The problem in the existing software was fixed using new patch.
is incorrect as stated above, as we do not have an appropriate subject for using.

Experts, correct me if I am wrong. Thank you!

[RonPurewal]

Actually, "The disease was treated using xxx techniques" is perfectly acceptable, per GMAC.

See OG13 #13 (OG12 #11), which talks about how "to build walls using just mud or clay", with no mention of the builder(s).

The best way to reconcile this usage with other "__ing" modifiers (which would be wrong under these circumstances) is to treat "using" as a preposition, like "with".
There are ways to build walls using just mud or clay.
There are ways to build walls with just mud or clay.

Basically, we're just accepting "using" as, basically, NOT an "ing" word.
"Including" (following a comma) is another such instance of a word that ends in -ing, but is NOT subject to the same rules as other __ing words.

[ramendra.awesome]

Nice explanation, Ron!!

Thanks for the post :)

[RonPurewal]

Sure.

[tim]

Thanks for the clarification, Ron. I figured there might have been something I missed.