Hey, it's Annemarie with Speak Confident English.
In this week's Confident English lesson,
we're going to explore how to correctly use because of and due
to in English.
These two phrases are often used interchangeably in spoken
communication by English speakers everywhere, but should they be?
The short answer is no.
This is a common mistake and by the end of this lesson today,
you'll know precisely why it's a common mistake and how to avoid it.
You'll know exactly how to use because of and do to
every time you communicate in English and at the end I've got a quiz to test
your know-how.
But first, if you don't already know,
I'm Annemarie an English confidence and fluency coach.
Everything I do is designed to help you get the confidence you want for your
life and work in English.
One way I do that is by sharing these weekly Confident English lessons.
So while you're here,
make sure you subscribe to my Speak Confident English channel on YouTube so you
never miss one of these Confident English lessons.
I mentioned at the start that because of and due to are often
used interchangeably and I want to share an example of that.
Let's take a look at these two sentences.
We canceled the trip because of the heavy rain and
we canceled the trip due to the heavy rain. Are both of these correct?
Not quite The correct one in this pair is we canceled the trip
because of the heavy rain.
You will hear English speakers use both of these sentences,
but it's a mistake to do so.
The challenges both because of and do to show a cause and
effect relationship in a sentence,
thus leading to a lot of confusion and this common mistake.
However, as you're going to learn,
there is a distinct difference in the meaning and use of both of these phrases.
So let's take a look at each one in depth. We'll start with because of,
we use,
because of when we want to explain the reason of something or
we want to answer the question why? Why did something happen?
If we go back to that example sentence of we canceled the trip
because of the heavy rain, we can ask the question,
why was the trip canceled because of the heavy rain?
Let's take a look at a few more examples to see this in action.
She missed the meeting because of traffic.
He couldn't sleep because of the loud music next door.
The presentation was successful because of the team's extensive preparation.
Again, in each of these examples, we can ask the question why.
Why did she miss the meeting because of traffic?
Why couldn't he sleep because of the loud music next door?
Why was the presentation successful?
Because of the team's extensive preparation in each of those
sentences because of is followed by a noun or a noun phrase,
it can also be followed by a pronoun and by using that phrase,
because of we connect the cause with the effect
or outcome of something. For example, in that first sentence,
the cause is traffic and it led to the outcome of
missing a meeting. Now,
if you love understanding the finer details of English grammar,
let's do a little more exploration in a sentence because of
is an adverbial prepositional phrase,
and like any adverb, it can be used to modify a verb or an adjective.
Now that word modify is definitely an example of jargon.
It can be a tricky word to understand in language.
When we talk about an adverb, for example, modifying a verb,
it means that it limits or it adds to the meaning
of a word.
So an adverb or an adverbial propositional phrase
adds to the meaning of the verb. Now,
if we go back to those three example sentences,
I want to look carefully at the structure of this sentence.
In those three examples,
I've highlighted the verb or verb phrase In each case
that is followed by the use of because of and because of
is followed by a noun, noun phrase or pronoun.
Now, before we move on and take a look at the use of DU two,
I want to share one tip with you when we're using the words because of
in all the example sentences I've shared with you,
we've used because of in the middle of the sentence,
we can also move it to the beginning. For example,
because of traffic,
she missed the meeting because of the loud music next door,
he couldn't sleep because of the team's extensive preparation,
the presentation was successful and now let's move on to
due to and then I've got a quiz to test your knowledge.
Due to is typically used in more formal or written English and
it explains the reason for a situation or condition.
In other words, it means as a result of or caused by
grammatically.
The use of due to modifies a noun or noun phrase
as opposed to a verb or verb phrase.
And when we use due to in a sentence,
it is followed by a noun or noun phrase.
Let's take a look at an example to see all of that.
The cancellation of the trip was due to heavy rain.
Here due to explains what caused the
cancellation and cancellation is a noun
here due to is explaining what caused
the cancellation. In fact,
we could even replace the words due to with caused by
the cancellation of the trip was caused by heavy rain.
Let's take a look at a few more examples With due to.
The delay in the project was due to technical difficulties.
The company's closure was due to poor management.
The success of the presentation was due to extensive preparation.
When we reviewed those sentences, once again,
we could replace due to with caused by in each one. In fact,
that's a helpful simple way to check whether the use of DU two
is correct.
If you can replace the words by caused by then you've made the right choice.
The delay in the project was caused by technical difficulties.
The company's closure was caused by poor management. In the third example,
we could also replace this with as a result of the success of the
presentation was a result of extensive preparation.
With that,
let's continue to explore the grammatical structure of using DU two and
how it's different from because of,
we learned that because of is an aerial prepositional phrase phrase and it's
used to modify verbs
due to is anival propositional phrase. And just like any adjective,
it's used to modify nouns or noun phrases.
If we go back to the example sentences we were just reviewing,
you'll see that I've highlighted the noun and the use of due
to gives us an answer to the question. What was the cause?
What was the cause of the delay? Technical difficulties,
what was the cause of the closure? Poor management.
At the start of this lesson, I used an example sentence.
We canceled the trip because of the heavy rain and I shared a second
sentence using the words due to instead of because of,
and of course we identified that that was incorrect.
Let's look at how we would make a change so that we could use due
to in a similar sentence. In this first example,
we canceled the trip because of heavy rain. I have the verb canceled.
I have because of followed by a noun or noun phrase and it answers the question
why? Why was the trip canceled? If I want to use due to,
I need to have a noun to modify, so instead of the verb canceled,
I would use the noun cancellation.
The cancellation of the trip was due to heavy
rain.
Now the focus is what caused the cancellation.
Now that you have a complete picture on how to correctly use because of and
do to, let's do a quiz.
I have several example sentences for you and I want you to decide whether
you should use because of or do to in this sentence.
After you make that decision,
you can check your answers in the comment section below,
I'll share the correct choice sentence. Number one,
the smoke in the home was the burning cake in the oven.
What would be the right choice there? Sentence two.
Kelly loves skiing the experiences she had as a kid with her
parents. Sentence three,
every worker is striking the low wages they're offered.
Number four,
our concerns were the lack of details provided in the
contract. Number five, I parked my car down the street,
the road construction, and number six,
the restaurant's success is the head chef's creative menu
and her business partner's marketing skills. Again,
I want you to decide whether you should use because of or do to in those
sentences and you can check your answers below.
If you found today's lesson helpful to you,
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Thank you so much for joining me and I look forward to seeing you next time.