because of; owing to and due to

[jiang]

Dear teachers,
Could you lease explain the following choices?
________ your stupidity we lost the game.
a. because of b. Due to c. Owing to
The key is 'd'--- Thanks to.
I am afraid 'a', 'b' and 'c' are confusing.

I am looking forward to hearing from you.

Thank you in advance.

Jiang

 

[twostep]

Dear teachers,
Could you lease explain the following choices?
________ your stupidity we lost the game.
a. because of b. Due to c. Owing to
The key is 'd'--- Thanks to.
I am afraid 'a', 'b' and 'c' are confusing.

I am looking forward to hearing from you.

Thank you in advance.

Jiang

I am not a teacher.
"because of" - yes
"due to" - yes
"owing to" - no

 

[jiang]

Thank you for your help. But the key is 'd'. That means the others are wrong. What should I do?

Jiang

Dear teachers,
Could you lease explain the following choices?
________ your stupidity we lost the game.
a. because of b. Due to c. Owing to
The key is 'd'--- Thanks to.
I am afraid 'a', 'b' and 'c' are confusing.

I am looking forward to hearing from you.

Thank you in advance.

Jiang

I am not a teacher.
"because of" - yes
"due to" - yes
"owing to" - no

 

[welldone]

"thanks to" makes the tone of the sentence more sarcastic...
a and b are grammartically correct, though.

that's my feeling. I am not a teach either

 

[blacknomi]

Dear teachers,
Could you lease explain the following choices?
________ your stupidity we lost the game.
a. because of b. Due to c. Owing to
The key is 'd'--- Thanks to.
I am afraid 'a', 'b' and 'c' are confusing.

I am looking forward to hearing from you.

Thank you in advance.

Jiang

According to Michael Swan,

due to and owing to both mean 'because of'. Phrases beginning due/owing to are often seperated from the rest of their sentence by a comma.

Due/Owing to the bad weather(,) the match was cancelled.
(a) is wrong, you should capitalize b.
otherwise (a) (b) (c) are alright with me.

and (d) carries ironic tone.

 

[Susie Smith]

Dear teachers,
Could you lease explain the following choices?
________ your stupidity we lost the game.
a. because of b. Due to c. Owing to
The key is 'd'--- Thanks to.
I am afraid 'a', 'b' and 'c' are confusing.

I am looking forward to hearing from you.

Thank you in advance.

Jiang

According to Michael Swan,

due to and owing to both mean 'because of'. Phrases beginning due/owing to are often seperated from the rest of their sentence by a comma.

Due/Owing to the bad weather(,) the match was cancelled.
(a) is wrong, you should capitalize b.
otherwise (a) (b) (c) are alright with me.

and (d) carries ironic tone.

I agree with you. All four answers are possible. (d) expresses irony, as you said. :wink:

 

[Taka]

Susie, as you are an American, let me ask one thing.

I've heard that today "owing to" is not so much used in American English. Is it correct or not?

 

[jiang]

Thank you for your help.

Best wishes,

Jiang

"thanks to" makes the tone of the sentence more sarcastic...
a and b are grammartically correct, though.

that's my feeling. I am not a teach either

 

[jiang]

Thank you for your help.

Best wishes,

Jiang

Dear teachers,
Could you lease explain the following choices?
________ your stupidity we lost the game.
a. because of b. Due to c. Owing to
The key is 'd'--- Thanks to.
I am afraid 'a', 'b' and 'c' are confusing.

I am looking forward to hearing from you.

Thank you in advance.

Jiang

According to Michael Swan,

due to and owing to both mean 'because of'. Phrases beginning due/owing to are often seperated from the rest of their sentence by a comma.

Due/Owing to the bad weather(,) the match was cancelled.
(a) is wrong, you should capitalize b.
otherwise (a) (b) (c) are alright with me.

and (d) carries ironic tone.

 

[blacknomi]

Thank you for your help.

Best wishes,

Jiang

I'm glad to have been some of help.

 

[MikeNewYork]

Dear teachers,
Could you lease explain the following choices?
________ your stupidity we lost the game.
a. because of b. Due to c. Owing to
The key is 'd'--- Thanks to.
I am afraid 'a', 'b' and 'c' are confusing.

I am looking forward to hearing from you.

Thank you in advance.

Jiang

I agree with most of what has been said. All four answers are acceptable to me. There have been historical objections to "due to" being used as a preposition, but I think most of that has died down. That does not explain the problem that the answer key has with the others, however.

due to
prep.
Because of.

USAGE NOTE Due to has been widely used for many years as a compound preposition like owing to, but some critics have insisted that due should be used only as an adjective. According to this view, it is incorrect to say The concert was canceled due to the rain, but acceptable to say The cancellation of the concert was due to the rain, where due continues to function as an adjective modifying cancellation. This seems a fine point, however, and since due to is widely used and understood, there seems little reason to avoid using it as a preposition.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2003 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[jiang]

Dear Mike,
Glad to hear from you again!
Thank you very much for your explanation. Now I see.

Jiang

Dear teachers,
Could you lease explain the following choices?
________ your stupidity we lost the game.
a. because of b. Due to c. Owing to
The key is 'd'--- Thanks to.
I am afraid 'a', 'b' and 'c' are confusing.

I am looking forward to hearing from you.

Thank you in advance.

Jiang

I agree with most of what has been said. All four answers are acceptable to me. There have been historical objections to "due to" being used as a preposition, but I think most of that has died down. That does not explain the problem that the answer key has with the others, however.

due to
prep.
Because of.

USAGE NOTE Due to has been widely used for many years as a compound preposition like owing to, but some critics have insisted that due should be used only as an adjective. According to this view, it is incorrect to say The concert was canceled due to the rain, but acceptable to say The cancellation of the concert was due to the rain, where due continues to function as an adjective modifying cancellation. This seems a fine point, however, and since due to is widely used and understood, there seems little reason to avoid using it as a preposition.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2003 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[Taka]

Mike, as you are an American too, could you give me your answer on this one?:

Susie, as you are an American, let me ask one thing.

I've heard that today "owing to" is not so much used in American English. Is it correct or not?

 

[Susie Smith]

Susie, as you are an American, let me ask one thing.

I've heard that today "owing to" is not so much used in American English. Is it correct or not?

Do you mean in written or spoken English? I'd say that "owing to" is used mostly in formal written English. "Because of" and "thanks to" are more commonly heard in everyday spoken language.

 

[Taka]

Susie, as you are an American, let me ask one thing.

I've heard that today "owing to" is not so much used in American English. Is it correct or not?

Do you mean in written or spoken English? I'd say that "owing to" is used mostly in formal written English. "Because of" and "thanks to" are more commonly heard in everyday spoken language.

So, if I say "Owing to the good weather, we were able to go on a hike", it sounds weird to you Americans. Right?

 

[Tdol]

It sounds a bit weird to my British ears. ;-)

 

[Tombraiders]

I believe the challenge of this problem is to ask you to select the BEST answer, which, obviously everybody agrees, is (d), rather than pick the correct answer.

 

[MikeNewYork]

Mike, as you are an American too, could you give me your answer on this one?:

Susie, as you are an American, let me ask one thing.

I've heard that today "owing to" is not so much used in American English. Is it correct or not?

I would agree with that statement. I do not run across "owing to" very often in AE. :wink:

 

[Susie Smith]

Susie, as you are an American, let me ask one thing.

I've heard that today "owing to" is not so much used in American English. Is it correct or not?

Do you mean in written or spoken English? I'd say that "owing to" is used mostly in formal written English. "Because of" and "thanks to" are more commonly heard in everyday spoken language.

So, if I say "Owing to the good weather, we were able to go on a hike", it sounds weird to you Americans. Right?

That's right.

 

[MikeNewYork]

Susie, as you are an American, let me ask one thing.

I've heard that today "owing to" is not so much used in American English. Is it correct or not?

Do you mean in written or spoken English? I'd say that "owing to" is used mostly in formal written English. "Because of" and "thanks to" are more commonly heard in everyday spoken language.

So, if I say "Owing to the good weather, we were able to go on a hike", it sounds weird to you Americans. Right?

Yes it does sound weird to me. :wink: