UNIT IV: FUNCTIONS

  CAUSE AND EFFECT:


Cause:
Because of
+      Noun
Due to
Owing to  
Thanks to
(in positive situations)

because
Subject + Verb
since
as
for

Examples:

  • The police arrested him because he broke into a bank.
  • The police arrested him since he broke into a bank.
  • She can't read the letter as she is illiterate.
  • He can't run fast for he is too fat.
  • Owing to his intelligence, he managed to solve the problem.
  • Due to the bad weather, they didn't go for a picnic.
  • Because of the heavy rain, they stayed in the hotel.

You can also express cause and effect as follows:
  • The cause of …is…
  • …is caused by / is due to
  • Thanks to ...

Examples:

The cause of
global warming
is pollution.
Global warming
is caused by
pollution.
is due to

Thanks to

Thanks to
his hard work,
his intelligence,
he passed the exam.

he managed to find the solution to that math problem.

Owing to and due to are used interchangeably by native speakers although some state that there is a difference.
a. Due to:
If you can use caused by then you can also use due to:
Example:
"The cancellation of the flight was due to (caused by) heavy rain."
b. Owing to:
If you can use because of then you should use owing to rather than due to:
fleche-gif-047.gifExample:
"The flight was cancelled owing to (because of) heavy fog."
fleche-gif-047.gifEffect:
  • Consequently
  • Therefore
  • As a consequence
  • As a result
  • For this reason
  • Thus
  • Because of this
  • Hence
  • So
fleche-gif-047.gifExamples:
  • John made a rude comment, so Elise hit him.
  • She failed her exams and was consequently unable to start her studies at college.
  • There is still much to discuss. We shall, therefore, return to this item at our next meeting.
  • We suspect they are trying to hide something, hence the need for an independent inquiry.
  • Yesterday there was a gas explosion. Because of this, several homes burned down.


Previous Post Next Post