What s the difference in meaning between

1. The theory was developed on the simple thought

2. The theory was developed based on the simple thought

Inglês (RU)
Inglês (EUA)

The first choice means that the theory was taken directly from a thought and the second choice means that it was based on the thought. I hope that helps!

Kryaix

Inglês (EUA)

no difference, you can omit "based" or use it and English people will still think the same thing.

Highly-rated answerer

Inglês (EUA)

The second one sounds a little more formal, like you’re writing an essay

Coreano

@caroline240 Would you be so kind as to make some sentences in which "on" is used in the sense of the first sentence?

Inglês (EUA)

Sure! Tell me if these make sense:

The book was based on the story of Johnny Appleseed.

Our business model is based on good quality.

His ideas on writing are revolutionary.

Coreano

@caroline240 Are there any differences in meaning with and without "based" in your first two examples?

Coreano

@caroline240 I guess without "based", your second sentence couldn't make sense? could it make sense despite the absence of "based"?

Inglês (EUA)

Nope. In both of the first two examples ‘based on’ means ‘using ideas from’.

In some situations I think you could omit ‘based’ in casual speech (like in the first sentence you could leave out based and they would get what you mean) but I think that is not grammatically correct

Coreano

@caroline240 Yeah, I agree with you.

I'd think it's such a trickiness of "on" because in some contexts it seems to have the meaning of "based on" already in itself like in my first example "The theory was developed on the simple thought".
So, I think even in formal writing, "based" could be omitted if "on" seems to be strongly meant for "based on" according to context.

It would be not entirely the matter of causality but context that decides whether to have to omit "based on" or not.

Inglês (EUA)

Yeah this is a tough one because I think the situations where we omit it don’t follow very regular rules but more follow typical speech patterns we hear around us. Haha sorry if this wasn’t very helpful