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I think a sentence cannot start with due to. But if i need to say due to this thing something is happening how can I say it?

How can I write the following sentence correctly?

Due to the changes of polygon shapes, similar error cannot be obtained when computing the residuals with respect to each other.

thanks in advance.

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There is no such rule that a sentence cannot start with due to. You are trying to work around a constraint you yourself impose on yourself. – RegDwighт♦ Oct 31 '12 at 10:48
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Can you say what made you think "a sentence cannot start with 'due to'", so we may know? – Kris Oct 31 '12 at 10:49
actually i was doubted about this... so i posted it. at the meantime i found this link too... usingenglish.com/forum/ask-teacher/… now i am so confused.. – gnp Oct 31 '12 at 10:53
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The link you've posted is, however, wrong. Definition of due to. – Matt Эллен Oct 31 '12 at 11:09
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Miro -- there's a flaw in the argument presented in the discussion you mention. They cite a style guide proclaiming that "'due to' is an adjective" which on that basis then goes on to outlaw "Due to..." in certain positions. But... that's just an (actually quite questionable) arbitrary analysis that that style guide author has chosen to adopt. There's no God-given reason either (a) to accept that argument/analysis, or (b) even if you do accept it, distort your speech or writing on the basis of it. – Neil Coffey Oct 31 '12 at 13:50
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1 Answer

up vote 5 down vote accepted

Here's a question that the Google NGram Viewer can actually help with. Look at the values on the Y axis. The usage of "Due to" at the beginning of a sentence has reached 0.0008% in 2008. That may not sound like much, but it represents orders of magnitude more frequency than most of the NGrams offered as proof on this SE site.

enter image description here

Only the severest and most arbitrary prescriptivist would argue that all these instances are wrong.

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Due to your reasoning, I've upvoted your answer. – Matt Эллен Oct 31 '12 at 11:23
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@Matt: Due to my shameless desire for reps, I thank you and encourage others to do likewise. – Robusto Oct 31 '12 at 11:56
@Robusto: thanks for the evidence...that due to is increasingly using... – gnp Oct 31 '12 at 12:17
Also see ngrams for Due to,_START_ due to,_START_ Due to. Per ngrams info _START_ lets one “identify ngrams at starts and ends of sentences with the START and END tags” – jwpat7 Oct 31 '12 at 18:27
@jwpat: Using a capital "D" does the same thing, doesn't it? The results are different for "Due to" and "due to" and the "Due to" and "_START_Due to" parallel each other suspiciously. I would suspect some kind of bug in the NGram viewer software. – Robusto Oct 31 '12 at 18:36

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