Question
Aggiornato il
Shiro513
14 giu 2019

  • Giapponese
  • Inglese (Stati Uniti)
  • Coreano
Domanda chiusa
Domande Inglese (Stati Uniti)

Hi guys. I have a question about English.

I've heard that we shouldn't put "because" on the beginning of the sentence, like,

"Because I am afraid of darkness, I won't go this way."

right? Why is that? Why it is okay to put "as" "since" on the beginning for asking reasons, but not to put "because"? Please help me about this!

Risposte
Leggi ulteriori commenti
cmertb
14 giu 2019

  • Inglese (Stati Uniti)
  • Russo Quasi esperto

Whoever you heard it from was probably a little confused. It's perfectly fine to start a sentence with "because" as long as it's a complete sentence. However, there is a common error where the clause with "because" is the whole sentence that starts with that word. That is what isn't allowed -- it becomes a sentence fragment rather than a complete sentence. "Because" always starts a subordinate clause which cannot stand on its own.

Your example is a complete sentence, so it's okay.

Utente esperto
Bignelly199
14 giu 2019

  • Inglese (Stati Uniti)

The problem with putting "because" at the beginning of a sentence is that sometimes, you get sentence fragments. This is a fragment. "Because we got in the car". That's not a whole sentence. What happened because you got in the car? We don't know. Your example, though, is a whole sentence that does start with "because".
Just be careful that your sentences are whole sentences.

Utente esperto
Antares919
14 giu 2019

  • Inglese (Stati Uniti)

Usually the word because is used to separate two clauses. "I can't go to work today because I am sick." It is usually placed between the two clauses of the sentence. However, I don't see anything wrong with your sentence, it's just less common to word it that way.

Utente esperto
amop567
14 giu 2019

  • Inglese (Stati Uniti)

You can start a sentence with because if has two clauses.
https://writing.msu.edu/starting-a-sentence-wit...
In other words,
"I won't go this way. Because I am afraid of darkness" is usually considered grammatically wrong but "Because I am afraid of darkness, I won't go this way" isn't.

Utente esperto
Shiro513
16 giu 2019

  • Giapponese
Thank you guys all. I understood that there is no rule we shouldn't start sentence with "because" .
So, if we did that, what's impression? I've also heard that if we start with "because", it's a little bit... childish? like that.
0 likes
Bignelly199
16 giu 2019

  • Inglese (Stati Uniti)

@Shiro513 I don't think so. The only reason is that if you do start a sentence with "Because", you can make sentence fragments. I've never heard of it being childish.

Utente esperto
Shiro513
17 giu 2019

  • Giapponese
@Bignelly199 Thanks for the answer again. I really appreciate! Now I understand about "because", I believe.
0 likes
cmertb
18 giu 2019

  • Inglese (Stati Uniti)
  • Russo Quasi esperto

@Shiro513 Actually, I feel it's the opposite. Swapping the normal order of clauses (i.e. putting the "because" clause in front), makes your sentence more difficult to parse, which may also give it an appearance of sophistication (or may make it ugly and unwieldy -- use with extreme caution). If you want it to be even more sophisticated, replace "because" with "since".

Additionally, I'd like to amend what we told you about sentence fragments above. While it's true that sentence fragments are generally disallowed, it doesn't mean that you can't use them at all. They are not strictly grammatical, but they can be used effectively as a rhetorical device. For example, instead of saying "You don't get this because you're stupid" in an argument, you could instead say "You just don't get this. Why? Because you're stupid." This turns boring prose into more of a dialogue.

Having said all that, you have to realize that as a non-native speaker, you will be likely called out on any deviations from standard grammar. Until you start to feel when it is appropriate to deviate, you should stick to the rules.

Utente esperto
[Novità] Ehi tu! Dico a te che stai imparando una lingua!

Sai come migliorare le tue abilità linguistiche❓ Basta far correggere ciò che scrivi da un madrelingua!
Con HiNative, puoi ricevere correzioni su ciò che scrivi da utenti madrelingua gratis ✍️✨.
Registrazione
Condividi questa domanda
Hi guys. I have a question about English. I've heard that we shouldn't put "because" on the beginning of the sentence, like, "Because I am afraid of darkness, I won't go this way." right? Why is that? Why it is okay to put "as" "since" on the beginning for asking reasons, but not to put "because"? Please help me about this!
domande simili
domande simili
Domande suggerite
Newest Questions (HOT)
Domande Recenti
Domanda precedente/successiva

Fai domande a utenti madrelingua gratis

Registrati gratis
hinative app preview balloon background image flying monga
  1. HiNative
  2. H
  3. Hi
  4. Hi
  5. Hi guys. I have a quest...