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I have bumped into just A LOT of English native speakers saying: " the reason I need to buy a flight ticket right now is because I have to get back to the office tomorrow morning" ( a tourist at a travel agency)

"The reason I want to go to Peru is because you can eat one of the best CEVICHES ever" (ceviche is raw fish cut into small pieces and flavored with lemon ).

I have so frecuently heard "the reason I...is because I ..." that I have always assumed it is the right way to say. But to my great surprise , a beautiful Irish woman told me that saying" The reason I ... is because I... " is redundant.

According to her " the reason I bought this T-shirt is I need to play football tomorrow" Or " the reason I am here is I wanted to see you" are correct sentences.

As she is Irish, I guess it must be true. I'm wondering whether it's just about formal and informal ways of saying the same thing,or it's a real mistake.

Can someone make this clear to me?

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    Spot on. Both the reason is because and the reason why are saying the reason behind the reason is. So, A is the reason for B. The reason for B is A. Not A is the reason why B. Not the reason for B is because of A. Jul 25, 2017 at 3:52
  • Not in total agreement with the lady in the story. We can remove "because" in those sentences but it's not redundant. The word "is" is only a linking verb. You can't "ising" something. It just connects a subject to it's verb. It's a special type of verb (a copula). We can remove "because" as it has become implied in spoken or written English (i.e., the reason for me stealing is I need money -- because is implied but "is" does not replace the purpose of "because"). They don't mean the same. The OP's story was saying they do. I don't agree. Cleaner, yes. They don't mean the same though.
    – Kace36
    Jul 25, 2017 at 7:22
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    I disagree. EITHER "The reason I'm hurrying is that I have a train to catch" OR "I'm hurrying because I have a train to catch". Jul 25, 2017 at 13:25

1 Answer 1

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It would be cleaner English to say "I need to buy a flight ticket right now because I have to get back to the office tomorrow morning" This is known as the art of precis and generally features in advanced English classes. The original is not wrong, just a bit messy.

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