"She had already heard the explosion via her mobile phone."

[dorax]

"She had already heard the explosion via her mobile phone."
Can we change the preposition "via" to "on"?

 

[Rover_KE]

Where did you find the quoted sentence?

Yes—it's better than 'via' in this context IMO.

 

[dorax]

The original sentence was published in an article in "The Guardian" and read: "When security forces outside the store heard via the telephone that a shot was fired, they immediately stormed the supermarket and shot Lakdim dead". I took this sentence and altered it.

 

[Rover_KE]

That context should have been given in post #1.

The two examples are different.

 

[dorax]

So in the sentence I gave only "on" is acceptable or it depends on the meaning?

 

[GoesStation]

So in the sentence I gave, is only "on" [STRIKE]is[/STRIKE] acceptable or does it [STRIKE]depends[/STRIKE] depend on the meaning?

"Via" is OK, but "on" is better suited to your sentence. The Guardian's sentence works well for a newspaper article.

 

[dorax]

Has it also to do with the style? Is "via" considered more formal?

 

[GoesStation]

"When security forces outside the store heard via the telephone that a shot was fired, they immediately stormed the supermarket and shot Lakdim dead".

[STRIKE]Has it also[/STRIKE] Does it have to do with the style? Is "via" considered more formal?

No. It's a matter of appropriate usage. The article is telling the reader that the security forces heard about the incident by phone; someone told them that a shot had been fired.

If the story had described someone hearing the shot, it might have said "When security forces heard a shot on the telephone ...."

 

[Tarheel]

The original sentence was published in an article in "The Guardian" and read: "When security forces outside the store heard via the telephone that a shot was fired, they immediately stormed the supermarket and shot Lakdim dead". I took this sentence and altered it.

Two things. One, the word "already" is not in that quote. Two, the word "already" shouldn't be there (which is probably why it isn't there).

 

[jutfrank]

So in the sentence I gave only "on" is acceptable or it depends on the meaning?

Yes, it completely depends on the meaning.