The phrase "a substantial step by" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used to describe a significant action taken by someone or something towards achieving a goal or making progress.
Example: "The committee took a substantial step by approving the new policy aimed at improving community health."
Alternatives: "a significant move by" or "a major action by".
"Trade and investment issues remain high on our agenda, and we have made a substantial step forward by launching negotiation on an investment agreement, covering both investment protection and market access," Herman Van Rompuy, president of the European Council, which represents member governments, said at the meeting.
The reported work is a substantial step toward ADR detection by implementing an intelligent database.
Graves and colleagues take a substantial step forward in this quest by presenting a neuro-computational system that shows striking similarities to a digital computer.
Collections of insertions generated by these approaches can provide useful information and tools, and the TRACER database represents a substantial step to capitalise on such a collection, by centralizing and giving access to data and to mouse lines.
I would be a substantial step in correcting some of the damage caused by the Obama foreign policy that impaired U.S. credibility worldwide.
The Community Transition to Professional Practice program represents a substantial step towards developing the primary health care health workforce by facilitating graduate nurse employment in this area.
In this pilot – which is being funded by an National Science Foundation NSFF) grant – could be a substantial step forward for those in the VA system suffering from mental illness.
There, Ms. Gill Hearn said: "This guilty plea was a substantial step forward in this case.
Such an analysis, which includes quantitative information visualized by the thickness of the lines connecting substrates to taxa, is potentially a substantial step forward in our understanding of organic matter flow in the microbial loop.
He sees a substantial step forward too in other areas of public life, notably entertainment and athletics.
