[Grammar] It is because...

[Creamcake]

Dear experts,

I have heard a lot of people using "It is because..." to answer a question. It is really confusing to me since before using 'because', we need an independent clause, like: "I did it because..." as this is a complex sentence. So I am wondering whether "It is because..." is correct or not, and if it is, what kind of sentence structure is it?

Thank you so much!

 

[tkacka15]

See this.

 

[Matthew Wai]

Are you lying?

If he is, it's because of something you did before.

Should 'it's because' be replaced with 'this is because' above?

 

[Matthew Wai]

'It is because of + cause (noun or noun phrase) + ‘that’+ effect (clause).'── quoted from the site mentioned in post#3 above.

Why is the following correct when a that-clause is missing?

If he is, it's because of something you did before.

 

[TheParser]

What kind of sentence structure is it?

***** NOT A TEACHER *****

Hello, Creamcake:

May I make a very respectful suggestion? I think that if you post a complete sentence (not just the first three words), you will help the members to come up with answers.

1. First, I think it is vital that we remember that sometimes "be" is NOT a linking verb. Please look at these sentences:

a. "The exhibition will be in November"; "The opening event is on October 16"; and "That was before the war."

i. The New Oxford American Dictionary (2001) says that with an adverbial, "be" can mean "occur" or "take place."

b. Kindly remember that fact as I offer a few ideas (not "answers").


2. I was wondering whether you were referring to such a sentence as: "It is because he has behaved so badly that he must be punished."

That sentence comes from A.S. Hornby, A Guide to Patterns and Usage in English (first impression 1954), page 241.

That scholar tells us that the idea could also be expressed this way: "As he has behaved badly, he must be punished."

Unfortunately, the scholar does not diagram the first sentence for us.

With your permission, I shall try to do so.


"It" is the formal subject. It means nothing. It is only a substitute word for the subject at the end of the sentence: "that he must be punished."

"is" in my OPINION is NOT a linking verb there. It is a full verb meaning something like "take place."

To better understand the structure, let's forget "it."

We then get "That he must be punished is because he has behaved badly."

In my OPINION. the adverbial ("because he has behaved badly") modifies the verb "is."

In other words, it means something like "That he must be punished will take place because he has behaved badly."

Of course, you would never say/write "That he must be punished is because he has behaved badly." That sentence is used ONLY to explain the basic structure of that sentence.

If you were diagramming that sentence, then, it would be something like:

"It (that he must be punished) + is + because he has acted badly."

a. The noun clause "that he must be punished" is in apposition with "it."
b. The adverbial clause "because he has acted badly" modifies the verb "is" -- in my OPINION.

 

[tkacka15]

"It is because he has behaved so badly that he must be punished."

I'd parse it this way:

It - anticipatory subject,

is - a linking verb [is can be compared, here, to the equal mark (=)],

that he must be punished - the postponed, by extraposition, the 'real' subject hence the anticipatory It = that he must be punished,

because he has behaved so badly - an adverbial (an adverbial clause of reason) modifying the subordinate noun clause that he must be punished.

 

[Creamcake]

We don't:

Because I don't live in England, any more, I am not really up on the current political scene there,
Driving too fast because I was late, I nearly had an accident.

Why are you so wet?
Because I fell in the river.

Thanks, but I know this. You can switch "I did it" to the back and my question still remains the same.

 

[Creamcake]

Read the whole page. It says later:

• To answer questions, use it is because, this is because, or because:
  • How can it be that an “awesome” God knows me by name and loves me without reservation? It is because He created me.
  • So why is Bush taking on the thankless issue of immigration? I believe it is because he sees the consequences for all Americans of our current dysfunctional policy.
  [...]
  
  In 'if ' and 'when' sentences use it is because:
  
  • If I look confused it is because I am thinking.
  • If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.
  • When consumers complain that prices of CDs are too high it is because they are.

Thanks Piscean & tkacka15 , but I the fact is I had already known this page even before I post this thread. The problem is that it does not answer my question, it just presents that we somehow can use that structure, not about the structure itself.

 

[Creamcake]

***** NOT A TEACHER *****

Hello, Creamcake:

May I make a very respectful suggestion? I think that if you post a complete sentence (not just the first three words), you will help the members to come up with answers.

1. First, I think it is vital that we remember that sometimes "be" is NOT a linking verb. Please look at these sentences:

a. "The exhibition will be in November"; "The opening event is on October 16"; and "That was before the war."

i. The New Oxford American Dictionary (2001) says that with an adverbial, "be" can mean "occur" or "take place."

b. Kindly remember that fact as I offer a few ideas (not "answers").


2. I was wondering whether you were referring to such a sentence as: "It is because he has behaved so badly that he must be punished."

That sentence comes from A.S. Hornby, A Guide to Patterns and Usage in English (first impression 1954), page 241.

That scholar tells us that the idea could also be expressed this way: "As he has behaved badly, he must be punished."

Unfortunately, the scholar does not diagram the first sentence for us.

With your permission, I shall try to do so.


"It" is the formal subject. It means nothing. It is only a substitute word for the subject at the end of the sentence: "that he must be punished."

"is" in my OPINION is NOT a linking verb there. It is a full verb meaning something like "take place."

To better understand the structure, let's forget "it."

We then get "That he must be punished is because he has behaved badly."

In my OPINION. the adverbial ("because he has behaved badly") modifies the verb "is."

In other words, it means something like "That he must be punished will take place because he has behaved badly."

Of course, you would never say/write "That he must be punished is because he has behaved badly." That sentence is used ONLY to explain the basic structure of that sentence.

If you were diagramming that sentence, then, it would be something like:

"It (that he must be punished) + is + because he has acted badly."

a. The noun clause "that he must be punished" is in apposition with "it."
b. The adverbial clause "because he has acted badly" modifies the verb "is" -- in my OPINION.

First of all, I would like to express my deep gratitude for your detailed explaination.

I think my example is simple but clear enough (and clearly you got the idea), but still I will take your advice for the next time I post something.

1. You has struck me so hard on this. This is totally new for me thinking that "is" (be) is not a linking verb here. I have always thought that "to be" is to link a subject with a noun, an adjective and an adverb to define the subject on its nature, features and location.

2. My example would not have the "that..." part, but I think they are the same anyway, so yes, your sentence could be what I was referring to.

I am still really confusing because if "is" is not a linking verb here and the clause "because he has behaved badly" just modifies the verb "is", then the clause itself is not a clause anymore but rather an adverb. Here the clause above should be a dependent one, and therefore it requires an independent clause (main clause) to make the meaning complete. In this case, it seems to me that this has violated the rule.

Beside, if it is what you said, then other adveribial clauses can also be used like in this case, right? We will have: "that he must be punished is when/where/in order that.... However it will look more like a Nound clause to me.

Oh my head... :shock:

 

[Creamcake]

What is the question that you feel is still unanswered?

It's about the structure of "It/this is because..."
I am still struggling to get what it is.

 

[tkacka15]

It's about the structure of "It/this is because..."
I am still struggling to get what it is.

In my opinion, you should be more specific about what bothers you. Is it a grammatical (syntactic) or lexical part of that structure?

 

[Osbri]

"That he must be punished is because he has behaved badly."

I'm just going to add to TheParser's answer. You can also say "he must be punished because he has behaved badly." Without the structure, "that...is because...".

 

[MikeNewYork]

I agree. It is much simpler and better.

 

[Creamcake]

My question was that I was wondering why people use: "It is because he has behaved so badly." to answer a question.

With the help from TheParser, it turns out to be like this: "It is because he has behaved so badly that he must be punished.", which is more specific. And later on it will become: "That he must be punished is because he has behaved badly." I agree with him on this change.

But even so, my most concern is that the clause "because..." is not supposed to be there since "It is..." and even "That he must be punished is..." do not express a complete thought and, therefore, are not independent clauses. TheParser then explained this case by stating that "is" is NOT a linking verb, and that "because..." clause is acting more like an adverb modifying "is". This is where I find myself lost.
I have found these sources to be helpful:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adverb
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copula_(linguistics)

Of course, we can use "He must be punished because he has behaved badly." as Osbri suggested because it is grammatically correct, or if we want to make it short, just say "Because he has behaved badly." We can have an independent clause or we don't have it at all, but "It is...", hmm, sounds odd to me :lol:

 

[tkacka15]

I think that your problem is "It", the anticipatory subject. It is used idiomatically in English. You can find more about it in a good grammar handbook. You may also find useful to learn more about the usage of "It" under the entries: "dummy it", "introductory it", "empty it", "prop it".

 

[tzfujimino]

"It is because he has behaved so badly that he must be punished."

That looks like a "cleft sentence" to me.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/learnit/learnitv149.shtml

I feel it's structurally different from this one, for example:

It is certain that he will be punished.
-->That he will be punished is certain.

(I might be wrong. I'm not a grammarian.)

 

[TheParser]

***** NOT A TEACHER *****

Hello, Creamcake:

1. As a link verb, "be" links a subject to a noun or adjective, but I have never heard of its linking a subject to an adverb. Could you please give us an example?

2. Don't feel bad about thinking that "be" is always a linking verb. Several years ago, a moderator at another grammar helpline told us the same thing. When I (respectfully and carefully, of course!) pointed out such sentences as "To be or not to be, that is the question" and "There was some confusion later," he admitted -- to his credit -- that he would have to reconsider his position. (Those sentences come from Pence and Emery's A Grammar of Present-Day English.)

3. Consider this dialogue.

Mona: I am thinking of taking English lessons with TheParser.

Mother: I refuse to let you do that. He doesn't know anything.

Mona: Why do you continually interfere in my life?

Mother: "It's because I love you."

Let's try to parse that.

It = pronoun. (I assume that it refers to her mother's interference in Mona's life.)

is = Is it a linking verb or full verb (that means something like "take place" or "occur")?

because I love you = Is that an adverbial clause? Then "is" cannot be a linking verb in that sentence, for -- as I said -- adverbials cannot (to the best of my limited knowledge) be a complement of a linking verb.

*****

What do you think of this dialogue?

TheParser: Why do you read detective stories?

Mona: I read detective stories because I enjoy them. [This sentence comes from Pence and Emery.]

TheParser: Why do you read detective stories?

Mona: Is it time for you to get a hearing aid, old fellow? I said very clearly: it's because I enjoy them!

How would you parse that sentence? I would be very interested. (P.S. I recently learned -- the hard way -- that I may not post an answer until the OP has replied to a member's question. Personally, I do NOT mind in the least if any other member replies before the OP does. Please feel free to do so.)

 

[tkacka15]

That looks like a "cleft sentence" to me.

I'm also inclined to classify It is because he has behaved so badly that he must be punished as a cleft sentence in which emphasis is placed on the reason/cause of the punishment. It may be derived from the original sentence He must be punished because he has behaved so badly.

 

[Osbri]

Has anyone heard about the appositive phrase?
Because I think that is what [STRIKE]"it"[/STRIKE] "that he must be punished." is here.

 

[MikeNewYork]

"It" is not a phrase; it is a word.