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In Task 1 academic, I often see people use the phrase 1. ‘Looking from an overall perspective, it is clear that’
OR
2. ‘Looking at the general trends for fiction, women buy the most books in this genre and men buy the least at 60% and 35% respectively’
OR
3. “Looking at the chart in more detail, in 2000, international tourism dominated Southland exports with dairy products and meat products coming second and third respectively”
This is produced by educated ‘native speaker’ writer when it comes to writing Task 1 or 2 essay/reports. But some Vietnamese teachers said to me that this is a grammar error called ‘dangling particle’ – is it true or false?
Hi Anh
This is a really great question thank you.
When you say “Looking at the chart…” it means that YOU, the writer, are looking at the chart.
But when you follow it with something like “women buy the most books”, it suggests that the WOMEN are looking at the chart.
So “Looking at the chart, women buy the most books” can sound strange, because the “looking” refers to the women (but they are not looking at the chart).
A correct example might be “Looking at the test paper, the women instantly felt confident” (same subject).
To avoid this confusion, it is better to say something like:
1. Looking at the chart, it is clear that women buy the most books.
2. Looking at the chart, we can see that women buy the most books.
I hope that helps. It’s not a huge mistake, but it can sound awkward and, in some cases, amusing.
Dangling: Driving home, a deer suddenly appeared on the road. (it sounds like the deer is driving).
Better: Driving home, I suddenly saw a deer on the road.
Dangling: Drinking cocktails on the balcony, the moon looked magnificent. (it sounds like the moon is drinking cocktails)
Better: The moon looked magnificent as we drank cocktails on the balcony.
Dangling: Hopping briskly through the vegetable garden, John saw a frog. (it sounds like John was hopping in the garden).
Better: John saw a frog hopping briskly through the vegetable garden.
Best wishes
Fiona