owing to, due to and because of

[jiang]

Dear teachers,

Please read the following sentence:

Flights were delayed due to the most serious storm the city had ever had.
Could you please explain if I replace "due to" with "owing to" or "because of"?

Looking forward to hearing from you.
Thank you in advance.

Jiang

 

[bhaisahab]

Dear teachers,

Please read the following sentence:

Flights were delayed due to the most serious storm the city had ever had.
Could you please explain if I replace "due to" with "owing to" or "because of"?

Looking forward to hearing from you.
Thank you in advance.

Jiang

You could replace it with "because of". I wouldn't use "owing to"; many people would in spoken English, but in my opinion it's not good English.

 

[jiang]

Dear bhaisahab,
Could you please explain why "owing to " is not good English?

Looking forward to hearing from you.
Thank you in advance.

Jiang

You could replace it with "because of". I wouldn't use "owing to"; many people would in spoken English, but in my opinion it's not good English.

 

[bhaisahab]

It's a personal thing, to me it sounds "slangy" if used in your sentence.