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Can you come up with an example, in which "No reason why" would be one separate sentence, perhaps, a short answer in a dialogue. (So, such constructions as "There is no reason why we shouldn't..." must not be considered.)

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You might wanna delete the superfluous "-e" in the title. It's very exotic and Italianate, but I'm afraid they actually say ragione. – Percy P. Jan 4 '11 at 7:23
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Strunk & White specifically warned against the construction "reason why", on the grounds that every reason is a reason why. – Malvolio Feb 22 '11 at 0:45
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"to" in that sentence is not an independent word, it's not a preposition, it's just part of the infinitive verb "to be". – Malvolio Feb 22 '11 at 22:52
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Not only do I think we can say it, I do, in fact, say it. I not only do say it, I say it and I think I'm right. Conversational English has a lot of places where we just cut out understood words (not as many as Spanish, which removes nominative pronouns if they they can be inferred!) Strunk's, White's, and my objection to the "reason why" is not that it's grammatically incorrect, but that it's redundant. – Malvolio Feb 23 '11 at 0:01
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@brilliant -- I'm OK with "reason to" and "reason for". I just don't have a reason why we should ever say "reason why". Other than somewhat labored irony, of course. – Malvolio Feb 23 '11 at 0:03
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1 Answer

up vote 2 down vote accepted

Mother says

Why are you always so naughty?

Child says

No reason why.

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Just about. But it does sound a bit childlike to me -as if the superflous trailing why has just been whimsically added to echo its occurence in the question. I'd certainly drop it myself, along with the implied leading "There is..." and trailing ...I am so naughty" – FumbleFingers Mar 31 '11 at 14:38
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To me this sounds like it should be "No reason. Why?" – Satanicpuppy Mar 31 '11 at 14:38

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