ACTIVE SEARCH: BECAUSE

This was going to be a short one this week because…

Oops, I mean…

This was going to be a short one this week. I want to talk about the word “because,” because…

Ah, crap, hold on…

This was going to be a short one this week. I want to talk about the word “because.” I think “because,” which like all words is perfectly fine and in no way “banned,” sometimes—actually, fairly often—sounds clunky.

What do I mean by “clunky”? Well, I’m not even sure. My issues with “because” are based only on a feeling. When I see sentences like this:

Bronwyn is crucial to the war effort because her exceptional archery skills are second to none.

It feels… what? “Telly?” It sounds like an explanation. It dries that sentence out somehow. I know there’s nothing technically wrong about the use of because in that sentence. If this were a line of dialog (and it sounds like one) because is something some people say. In that case, as with all cases when characters are speaking, rules of grammar and usage fly right out the window on the wings of colloquialism, accent, etc. But what if because simply went away and that one subjectively “clunky” sentence became two?

Bronwyn is crucial to the war effort. Her exceptional archery skills are second to none.

To me it feels as though the second sentence now emphasizes her exceptional archery skills while the version with because sort of slides it in…?

I know, right…?

Why is this? What facts, rules, citations, does Phil have to back this up?

Well, you tell me. Here’s the whole entry from The New Fowler’s Modern English Usage (3rd Edition):

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because (orig. by cause that after OF par cause de).

A Standard usage.

B More questionable because-clauses,

C because or for.

A Because as a conjunction normally introduces a dependent clause expressing the cause, reason, or motive of the content of the main clause: she wept because she loved him (the because-clause, here following the main clause, answers the question ‘why?’); because we were running short of petrol, we began to look for a garage (here the because-clause precedes the main clause); I know he committed suicide, because his wife told me (answering the question ‘how do you know?’); she thinks I’m upset because I wanted Fred to spend the night (answering the question ‘why does she think that?’); (preceded by just) ‘And all they are doing is sitting around on their high-priced butts drinking tea, just because they haven’t had your scripts.’ ‘My word,’ said Henry. All these, including the last from Malcolm Bradbury’s Cuts (1987), are well-regulated uses of the conjunction because.

It is also in order to use because after an introductory it is, it’s, that’s, this is: It is only because he regarded it as absolutely necessary that he took such harsh measures; it doesn’t hurt, and I can tell you why, it’s because I’ve changed my work; That’s because I’m so damned good at journalism,’ she added; Mars looks especially good on this encounter… This is because the atmosphere obscures light rays. All these examples are drawn from reputable sources.

In some informal contexts, because can be safely omitted: Tammy put a hymn book up in front of her face she was so embarrassed. It can also be replaced by, or re-expressed in, another construction: Being poor, he could not afford to buy books (= because he was poor): An experienced teacher, Mr Walton solved the problem quickly (= because he is).

Also acceptable in informal use is the unadorned retort Because, with the implication that a fuller reply is being withheld for some reason: ‘Why didn’t you leave the bottle?’ ‘Because!’ I said shortly. I wasn’t going to explain my feelings on the matter.—M. Carroll, 1968.

B More questionable because-clauses, with varying degrees of questionable-ness, are:

1 I know he committed suicide because the girl did not love him and his wife told me (with a second because implied between and and his wife: a mixture of two constructions).

2 Mr David Alton… has told colleagues that he is very unlikely to accept a spokesmanship in the Social and Liberal Democrats because he profoundly disagrees with Mr Paddy Ashdown, the party’s new leader; he did not go to South Africa because he loved the game of rugby. Examine both sentences for their ambiguity. It is often unsafe to place because after a clause containing a negative or negative equivalent.

3 In constructions with why and because placed in that order: he was implying that why he knew that she had kept the promise was because he had been seeing Arnold; why I spoke sharply was because she was rude. Such constructions are sometimes called pseudo-cleft sentences.

4 Because (or just because) at the head of a dependent clause governing a main clause: Just because a fellow calls on a girl is no sign that she likes him—G. Ade, 1897; Just because I’m here now doesn’t mean I didn’t go, does it?—B. Tarkington, 1913; Because we don’t explicitly ask these questions doesn’t mean they aren’t answered—New Yorker,1986; Just because someone does not agree with or is offended by Knechtle’s beliefs is no reason to keep him off campus—Daily Northwestern (Illinois), 1988. Such because-clauses demand too long an attention span before the onset of the main clause.

5 Though often defended, the type the reason… is because (instead of the reason… is that) aches with redundancy, and is still as inadmissible in standard English as it was when H. W. Fowler objected to it in 1926. A sub-editor on The Times should not have allowed because to stand on the front page of the issue of 19 January 1988: He (sc. Dr David Owen) had believed the reason for Mr MacLennan’s visit was because he had doubts about the new policy. Other flawed examples: The reason for the continued success of this physical atomism was because it was consistent in explaining a wide variety of new experimental results—C. Gilman, 1987; One of the reasons… that singers like Randy Travis and Dwight Yoakam have sold themselves so successfully in this country is because they are selling authenticity—The Face, 1987

C because or for. Because is a subordinating and for a coordinating conjunction. The main standard uses of because are illustrated in section A above. For as a conjunction means ‘seeing that, since’: Those houses… ought not to be called houses, for they were unfit to be lived in—Daily Worker, 1963. It always follows, and, as it were, acts as a kind of gloss on, or appendage to, a main clause.

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Okay, got that? Because there’ll be a quiz next week.*

—Philip Athans

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