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  1. ..."Can" is more likely when you are addressing a particular person. "Can" expresses ability, so we tend to make some sort of appraisal of whether the person being addressed actually has that ability. When addressing a general audience, some of them may be so unimaginative that they cannot imagine whatever it is. "Could" is far less assertive,...

I've seen many native speakers use this sort of "when + present participle" construction where the subject of the main clause does not match with that of the dependent clause. Isn't this a case of dangling modifier? Or unlike "after + present participle" and "before + present participle", the construction "when + present participle" is an exception?

Mr. X
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    It is impossible to overstate the importance of context in speaking and writing. The answer to your post is all a question of context. If you have context, the matter is cleared up. If you do not have context, it can be ambiguous. If, in your example, the context makes clear who "them" is, then the participle does not "dangle" ambiguously. – Greybeard Nov 14 '20 at 11:13
  • The subject of "addressing" is "you" and "them" refers to the "general audience". – Mr. X Nov 14 '20 at 11:24
  • (1) is about when we should use "one can imagine something" and when "one could imagine something". – Mr. X Nov 14 '20 at 11:35
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    Does this answer your question? "Dangling Participles" G Pullum has written << Does it really matter if it dangles? Nov 2010 ... Filed by Geoffrey K. Pullum under ambiguity, .. The "hanging participle" (it is more common to say "dangling participle" or "dangling modifier", ... Is it truly so terrible to have dangled a participle?

    The irony is that the answer is no: in the particular case at hand it does not matter much. >> Referring to cases where the meaning is clear. Though I admit I'd rephrase here myself.

     – Edwin Ashworth Nov 14 '20 at 12:14
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    Adding ... you may [well/possibly/sometimes ...] find that ... will keep most people happy; swapping the comma for a colon is a more brusque correction. – Edwin Ashworth Nov 14 '20 at 12:22

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