Is it fine to use "because" at the begining of a sentence in writing?

Winwin2011 · Aug 16, 2012

I heard many native speakers say "because" at the beginning of a sentence in spoken English. Is it fine to use "because" at the begining of a sentence in written English?

Thanks.

Rover_KE · Aug 16, 2012

In the right context, any word can begin a sentence, even and or but.

Rover

Barb_D · Aug 16, 2012

I'll give a longer answer.

Q: Why did the chicken cross the road?
A: Becaues he wanted to get to the other side.
-- Back in elementary/primary school, the teacher would mark this answer down. The teacher wanted complete sentences. "The chicken crossed the raod to get to the other side." It's only half a sentence as written.

In real life, we'd answer that way all the time, or simply "He wanted get to the other side."

So a "sentence" like "Because he wanted to" would be correct in most real-life contexts, but incorrect in many school settings.

However, you can also write a complete sentence starting with "because" by changing the order. "Because the chicken wanted to get to the other side of the road, he walked across it."

Winwin2011 · Aug 16, 2012

Barb_D said:
I'll give a longer answer.

Q: Why did the chicken cross the road?
A: Becaues he wanted to get to the other side.
-- Back in elementary/primary school, the teacher would mark this answer down. The teacher wanted complete sentences. "The chicken crossed the raod to get to the other side." It's only half a sentence as written.

In real life, we'd answer that way all the time, or simply "He wanted get to the other side."

So a "sentence" like "Because he wanted to" would be correct in most real-life contexts, but incorrect in many school settings.

However, you can also write a complete sentence starting with "because" by changing the order. "Because the chicken wanted to get to the other side of the road, he walked across it."

Thanks a lot, Barb_D.

That's exactly what I want to know. In many grammar exercise books for our primary schools, the model answer for something like your excellent context would usually be as follows:-

The chicken crossed the road because he wanted to get to the other side.

However, I've seen a model answer for something like this as follows:

Because he wanted to get to the other side.

Barb_D · Aug 16, 2012

The model reflects more likely actual usage.

Is it fine to use "because" at the begining of a sentence in writing?

Winwin2011

Senior Member

Rover_KE

Moderator

Barb_D

Moderator

Winwin2011

Senior Member

Barb_D

Moderator

Similar threads