by remaining calm- a dangling participle? [duplicate]

Question

I am wondering whether "remaining" is a dangling participle in the following:

By remaining calm, a solution is usually possible.

I'd appreciate your help.

Answer 1

By remaining calm isn't a participle phrase but a preposition phrase with the gerund^† phrase remaining calm as its object.

But the same rule applies: if the phrase/clause containing the -ing form does not have an explicit subject the phrase/clause has to be 'anchored' on its implicit subject in the matrix clause to which it is attached.

Here there is no eligible subject for remaining: a solution is not semantically capable of remaining calm.

---

^† Or gerund-participle phrase/clause—folks disagree on the nomenclature, but it's not relevant to the matter at hand.

Answer 2

One thing that needs to be pointed out is that the clause does have a subject (other than "a solution"). It's just that the subject is unspoken.

The sentence in question is passive. This means that there is an unspoken "actor". The sentence can be (awkwardly) reworded into something such as "By remaining calm a person can usually arrive at a solution." In this case there is no valid argument that anything is "dangling".

This is not the same as some of the more egregious cases of "dangling participles" such as "By remaining calm the car that you are driving can survive a serious accident."