Due to Because of
Hi, welcome to a new video in my Quick Fix series.
Today, we are looking at the difference between
DUE TO and BECAUSE OF in English.
This is a shout out to Maximiliano who has requested this video. so, I hope this helps.
OK, so DUE TO and BECAUSE OF are often confused in spoken English.
Even native speakers can confuse them.
But in your written English, for example exams or written pieces
it is important that you show that you know the difference.
So, by the end of this video you will know the difference between DUE TO and BECAUSE OF
and there is a short test to see how much you have learned.
OK, so let's get started.
So firstly, DUE TO means as a result of or caused by.
It is an adjective and can only modify pronouns and nouns.
I remember things by thinking of little tricks or memory aids.
So here we have the D in due going with the J in adjective
and you get DJ. Easy, right?
For example:
His defeat was due to the rain.
Here we use due to because it is modifying a noun. In this case “his defeat.”
Whereas,
because of means the same as due to but it is an adverb and modifies verbs.
For example:
He was defeated because of the rain.
Now the pronoun "he" has become the sentence's subject.
The verb is now “was defeated.”
So, we are modifying the verb “was defeated”
so we need the adverbial prepositional phrase,
“because of.”
A quick tip is to substitute CAUSED BY in the sentence, if it works you need DUE TO,
if doesn’t you need BECAUSE OF.
So in the first sentence we replace DUE TO with CAUSED BY and we get:
His defeat was caused by the rain.
Great this works! so due to is correct.
Whereas in the second sentence we replace BECAUSE OF with CAUSED BY and we get:
He was defeated caused by the rain.
This doesn’t work so we stick with because of.
Let’s see some more examples.
My low grade was due to lack of study.
Here DUE TO is modifying the noun phrase “my low grade” so we need DUE TO as it is an adjective.
But let’s check with the test of replacing it with CAUSED BY.
So, we get:
My low grade was caused by lack of study.
Great this works so due to is correct.
Whereas, "He didn’t study very hard because of his illness."
Here we try and replace because of with caused by and we get:
“He didn’t study very hard caused by his illness.”
This doesn’t work so it has to be because of.
So now it’s your turn. Fill in the gaps with either DUE TO or BECAUSE OF.
One: The heavy snowfall was blank the cold front.
DUE TO. It is modifying the noun phrase “the heavy snowfall”.
Put CAUSED BY in the gap to check it works.
“The heavy snowfall was caused by the cold front.”
Great this works, so it’s DUE TO.
Another tip is that whenever you see a form of the verb “to be” (is/was, etc.)
and DUE TO can fit directly after it, it is always DUE TO. Always!
Two: The snowfall came blank the effects of the cold front.
The answer is BECAUSE OF because the phrase modifies the verb “came.”
Therefore, we need an adverbial – BECAUSE OF.
It's giving a reason — a cause — for why the snowfall “came.”
Also, if you replace the phrase with caused by it doesn’t make sense.
The snowfall came caused by the effects of the cold front.
So, it has to be BECAUSE OF.
Three: Blank the effects of the cold front, the snowfall was heavy.
The answer is the adverbial “because of.”
The “because of” phrase does not modify the snowfall.
So, it must modify heavy....“heavy because of the effects...”
Because “heavy” is an adjective, and adverbs can modify adjectives,
you select the adverbial phrase “because of.”
Another way of looking at it that might be easier:
The “because of” phrase is giving cause to the “heaviness” of the snow.
It's modifying the state of being heavy.
If we put our phrase “caused by” in here, it would be,
“Caused by the effects of the cold front, the snowfall was heavy
and this doesn’t really make sense.
So, it's because of.
4. The crash was blank the erratic nature of the other driver.
DUE TO. We are modifying the noun “The crash” so we need the adjective DUE TO.
Remember our DJ, due, adjective.
Also, to check your answer remember to put CAUSED BY in the gap
and you get: “The crash was caused by the erratic nature of the other driver.”
It works so it’s DUE TO.
Also remember whenever we see the verb “to be” and you can fit the phrase directly after it,
it’s DUE TO.
Five: The crash occurred blank the erratic nature of the other driver.
The answer is the adverbial BECAUSE OF
because the phrase modifies the verb “occurred.”
Use the trick of replacing it with CAUSED BY and it would be,
“The crash occurred caused by the erratic nature of the other driver."
and this doesn’t make senses so it is BECAUSE OF.
OK, so that’s it for now, I hope you now feel more confident in using DUE TO and BECAUSE OF in English.
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OK, so that's it for now. See you very soon.
Bye, bye.