Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2022 December 26

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December 26

Two comma-separated word blocks at the start of an English sentence?

Sample sentence: "In theory, as the most-qualified candidate, Jack should have been the project leader." Is this allowed and acceptable style in English? --KnightMove (talk) 06:49, 26 December 2022 (UTC)

For wont of an English Language Authority that has the power to crack down on perps, it is not disallowed. Stylistically, being awkward, it leaves something to be desired.  --Lambiam 10:42, 26 December 2022 (UTC)

Yeah I'd rewrite it as "As the most qualified [no hyphen required] candidate, Jack should in theory have been the project leader." --Viennese Waltz 12:00, 26 December 2022 (UTC)

Or "As the most qualified candidate, in theory Jack should have been the project leader." Alansplodge (talk) 12:43, 26 December 2022 (UTC)

Of course, there is no prescribed word order in English. A famous example is from Gray's Elegy; the words of the line "The plowman homeward plods his weary way" can be transposed in at least 11 different ways (as many as 252 have been proposed) without altering the meaning. [1] Alansplodge (talk) 13:07, 26 December 2022 (UTC)

Leaving the comma structure as is but replacing "as" by "being" results in: "In theory, being the most-qualified candidate, Jack should have been the project leader." For reasons I don't understand, this makes the sentence "feel" more acceptable (to me).  --Lambiam 12:32, 29 December 2022 (UTC)