Timeline for Is it correct to say "The reason is because ..."?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
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| May 14, 2022 at 14:10 | history | edited | Peter Shor | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| May 14, 2022 at 14:04 | history | edited | Peter Shor | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Jun 15, 2020 at 7:40 | history | edited | CommunityBot |
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| Apr 8, 2019 at 15:01 | history | edited | Peter Shor | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Apr 8, 2019 at 14:50 | history | edited | Peter Shor | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Apr 7, 2019 at 15:05 | comment | added | Toothrot | I don't think the problem is redundancy but rather a violation of the syntax of because, which is always A because B, where A and B are complete statements. But ‘The reason is’ is not a complete statement, unless is is read existentially. | |
| Mar 25, 2015 at 15:26 | history | edited | Peter Shor | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Mar 25, 2015 at 15:20 | history | edited | Peter Shor | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Feb 15, 2013 at 7:56 | comment | added | Adam | The examples above sound fine, but compare them with the following: The only good reason to go to grad school is that you love English. The only good reason to go to grad school is because you love English....The reason is because you love English | |
| Feb 15, 2013 at 7:50 | review | Suggested edits | |||
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| Jan 21, 2012 at 17:29 | comment | added | FumbleFingers | Not really! Perhaps in US usage "graduate school in [subject]" is more clearly recognised as a "self-contained" composite noun phrase. In the UK we don't normally use "graduate school" as a noun anyway, and I'm certainly not familiar with the idea distinguishing between different types thereof that specialise in a particular subject. Also, I assume in your example you mean because you love English, but my attempt to parse it ends up with because you love that graduate school (which specialises in English). | |
| Jan 21, 2012 at 16:36 | comment | added | Peter Shor | @FumbleFingers: would it have been clearer if I'd said in Mathematics? | |
| Jan 21, 2012 at 15:13 | comment | added | FumbleFingers | I agree the first of your 2nd pair is better, but I think your reason isn't exactly the right one. It's because that phrasing invites us split off the introductory "The only good reason to...", leaving the advisory maxim "Go to graduate school in English [is] because you love it (not for other reasons)". Which I can't actually parse anyway - did you mean "in England"? | |
| Sep 28, 2011 at 1:37 | comment | added | user13432 | @RandomIdeaEnglish: I agree. We do not say "the reason is because." Because starts ADV clauses. That starts NOUN clauses. Alenanno is also correct. "The reason is because" is redundant. (The same principle applies to "the reason why." We don't need the word why. It is redundant.) | |
| Aug 28, 2011 at 19:12 | comment | added | RandomIdeaEnglish | I agree with you Peter, I too think your 'because' version sounds more natural. But the two sentence don't have quite the same structure. The problem is that the verb 'be' is a copular or linking verb, and theoretically you're not meant to use an adverbial clause (because...) after a copular verb. But a 'that' clause is OK because it's technically a noun clause. But then we're not meant to say 'It's me' either, but we all do. That's why I say theoretically. I'm with Colin Fine and Fumblefingers. | |
| Jul 23, 2011 at 14:23 | comment | added | FumbleFingers | Upvoting because the reason we have redundancy in language is to improve its reliability as a means of communication. | |
| Jul 19, 2011 at 17:34 | comment | added | James | "The event happened BECAUSE xxx", but "The reason that the event happened WAS xxx" | |
| Jul 19, 2011 at 16:50 | history | answered | Peter Shor | CC BY-SA 3.0 |