if looked at....................

[ray8838]

Extracts from a magazine:

"China's fiscal system is soundif looked at on the basis of the government's balanced budget and relatively low public debt burden.

Is the above sentence grammatical?

I think there is something wrong with the usage of "if looked at".

I would rephase it to

"China's fiscal system is sound if considered on the basis of the government's..........................." OR
"China's fiscal system is sound if based on the government's..........................."


Any comments?

 

[JulianStuart]

There is nothing wrong with "if looked at on the basis of...". Your substitution of "considered" is good. You could also use "evaluated" inn his example.

 

[Beryl from Northallerton]

Which magazine might that be? Please name your source, ray8838.

 

[Giorgio Spizzi]

Hullo, ray.

"China's fiscal system is sound if looked at on the basis of the government's balanced budget and relatively low public debt burden."

The portion if looked at could be paraphrased "if we (one, economists, experts, etc.) look at it on the basis of... ."

I suspect a paraphrase by means of "if based on", on the other hand, might engender ambiguity and encourage the following inappropriate reading:

"China's fiscal system is sound if it is based on the government's... ."

GS