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(1) What was your main problem, when performing the analysis?

(2) What was your main problem, in performing the analysis?

"When performing the analysis" in (1) is a dangler.

"In performing the analysis" in (2) is not a dangler.

Am I right? Thanks!

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Loviii
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    I would argue that the comma is incorrect in both of those sentences. But punctuation aside, both sentences are fine; however, they have different meanings. – Jason Bassford May 17 '20 at 16:32
  • Do you mean "Is in performing the analysis a noun complement, the complement of 'problem' "? Certainly, 'When performing the analysis' can be expanded to 'when you were performing the analysis' and fronted. And I'd omit the comma before in performing. – Edwin Ashworth May 17 '20 at 16:34
  • Edwin Ashworth, It seemes to me "in performing the analysis" is an adjunct but not a dangler. Do you agree? Thanks! – Loviii May 17 '20 at 16:54
  • Depending on your definition (you should explain what you mean by the term), they are either both danglers, or neither of them is. (Unless of course you come up with a definition that makes it clear—but then you'd already know the answer …) – Jason Bassford May 17 '20 at 17:59
  • "Dangler" is not a technical term, so you can't be right in any useful sense. It's a term in some popular (and normally wrong) ideas about English syntax, but not one in use by grammarians. Normally it's used by grammar peevers and other unpleasant people. – John Lawler May 17 '20 at 18:13
  • No commas, please, but two meanings here. When means a problem showed up at the time of analysis, but the analysis was okay in discovering the issue (the data showed I am not popular.) In means a problem happened in the attempt of the analysis, so it couldn't surface any issues (I couldn't get to the data at all.) – Yosef Baskin May 17 '20 at 18:47
  • I'd say (1) is incorrect; you have two different subjects, so you can't reduce. Compare this, where cats perform the analysis: When performing the analysis, cats were my main problem. You need to say When I was performing the analysis, cats were my main problem. – Tinfoil Hat May 17 '20 at 18:54

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