[Grammar] ‘because of’ & ‘due to’ VS ‘through’

[northpath]

I’m accustomed to using ‘because of’ & ‘due to’ is such sentences as
The plane is late due to fog.
She has been absent from work due to illness.
The trains were late because of the fog.
We don't use the car because of the price of gas.

But recently I came across a sentence
The plants died through lack of water.

So, is the preposition ‘through” an alternative to ‘because of’&‘due to’? Can I say:
The plane is late through fog.
She has been absent from work through illness.
The trains were late through the fog.
We don't use the car through the price of gas.

 

[Tarheel]

My first reaction was:

Seriously?

I would not say, "The plant died through lack of water." I consider that idiosyncratic usage.

Stick to what you know.

 

[emsr2d2]

The only one of your last four that works for me is "She has been absent from work through illness". Unlike Tarheel though, I have no real problem with the idea of a plant dying through lack of water.

 

[jutfrank]

This use of through is fairly common, I'd say. You can use it to focus on the means by which something happened, which led to a result:

• The plant died through lack of water.
• I achieved my success through hard work and determination.
• It was through no fault of his own that he missed the plane.

(The "She has been absent from work through illness." example doesn't sound right to me.)

 

[SoothingDave]

A plane being "through fog" has a literal meaning that only confuses the attempt to use it like this. You already know several good ways to express that fog delayed the plane.