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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.
    Commented Jan 4, 2011 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.
    – Michael Lorton
    Commented Feb 22, 2011 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".
    – Michael Lorton
    Commented Feb 22, 2011 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.
    – Michael Lorton
    Commented Feb 23, 2011 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.
    – Michael Lorton
    Commented Feb 23, 2011 at 0:03

1 Answer 1

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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
    Commented Mar 31, 2011 at 14:38
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    To me this sounds like it should be "No reason. Why?"
    – Satanicpuppy
    Commented Mar 31, 2011 at 14:38
  • A more adult version would be "No reason."
    – chasly - supports Monica
    Commented Jul 15, 2015 at 12:57
  • No reason why is a conversational deletion from (There is) no reason why. Dummies are frequently deleted like this.
    – John Lawler
    Commented Oct 7, 2023 at 16:54

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