prepositions - "Because of" vs. "due to" — best choice to explain a reason?



Given the sentence,



This exception was thrown __ invalid input.



Which preposition should I use to fill in the blank — because of or due to?


Is either generally preferable for specifying cause or reason?



Answer



Very simply, due to modifies nouns and because of modifies verbs. They are not interchangeable, though the perception of due to being 'more intelligent' than because of ensures that plenty of people misuse it - delicious irony!


Example:



His failure was due to poor preparation



Here, due to poor preparation is modifying his failure via the linking verb was, so the sentence works. If we change the sentence:



He failed due to poor preparation



Here, due to poor preparation is modifying.... errrrr. There is nothing for it to modify. If we correct the sentence:



He failed because of poor preparation



Now, because of modifies failed and the sentence works.


You will hear some people saying this is prescriptive and old fashioned blah blah blah, but they are simple excusing ignorance by calling it language change. Not knowing an adjective from and adverb is not language change.


Looking at my examples, notice how due to follows was, and because of doesn't? That is one quick and easy indicator that you should be using due to. Another is to substitute caused by.



His failure was caused by poor preparation



is okay, but



*He failed caused by poor preparation



isn't.


Using your example, substituting caused by gives us



This exception was thrown caused by invalid input.



which doesn't work, nor is there a linking verb, so



This exception was thrown because of invalid input.



Further reading can be found in:




  • The BBC Style Guide - "Due to. This means caused by, not because of".




  • The Telegraph Style Guide - "due to is used adjectivally and, therefore, needs a noun to modify"




  • The Economist Style Guide - "When used to mean caused by, due to must follow a noun, as in The cancellation, due to rain, of... Do not write It was cancelled due to rain. If you mean because of and for some reason are reluctant to say it, you probably want owing to. It was cancelled owing to rain is all right."




  • Elements of Style - "Due to. Incorrectly used for through, because of, or owing to, in adverbial phrases: "He lost the first game, due to carelessness." In correct use related as predicate or as modifier to a particular noun: "This invention is due to Edison;" "losses due to preventable fires.""




  • Kansas University - " The word pairs “because of” and “due to” are not interchangeable. The reason they are not is that they “grew up” differently in the language. “Because of” grew up as an adverb; “due to” grew up as an adjective. Remember that adjectives modify only nouns or pronouns, whereas adverbs usually modify verbs."




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