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When I hear people say “the reason why” or “the reason is because,” it is all I can do to hold my tongue and not correct them. If my lips even looked as though they were going to make a “W” sound after I said “The reason…”, my mother was ready to pounce.
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Ooooh, that was a huge no-no in my house.
#That is not only not right it is not even wrong professional#
Writers and speakers may certainly make fools of themselves in front of their listeners and readers until the cows come home however, good copy editors, proofreaders, speech writers, ghost writers, etc., have an ethical and professional obligation to alert their clients to possible pitfalls re grammar and diction so that their clients can make well-informed decisions about placing themselves at the mercy of merciless critics and opponents. That’s why it’s important to distinguish between being understood, e.g., “the reason why” and “I ain’t got no money,” and speaking and writing clearly, concisely, and correctly, e.g., “That happened because. There is no statute of limitations for grammar or diction errors. The more intelligent we are, the more educated we are, and the more experienced we are, the more sensitive we are to poor language skills.Ī centuries-old mistake, like “the reason why” (eight centuries) or “ain’t” (not yet three centuries), is still a mistake. Regardless of the lack of intelligence, education, or experience of the source, we can usually understand what’s meant. We all understand what a speaker or writer means by the illogical phrases like “the reason why” and “the reason is because,” etc. 12 Misunderstood and Misquoted Shakespearean ExpressionsĢ3 Responses to “Is There a Reason “the Reason Why” Is Considered Wrong?”Īlthough I don’t think I’ve ever used “the reason why,” I see no reason why there should be any fuss if I were to use “the reason why” because they’re only words.Ī language’s goal is to communicate, i.e., words + logic = information.
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Writing a Reference Letter (With Examples).Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the General category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below: White, coauthor of the revered writing guide The Elements of Style. But it’s not the sentence that prompts my mirth it’s the name of the source of the sample sentence: E. The dictionary uses the condemned redundancy in its example of usage of because.
Garner approves of “the reason why” yet condemns “the reason is because,” a sample sentence in the entry for because in Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, “The reason I haven’t been fired is because my boss hasn’t got round to it yet,” amuses me. In “the reason why,” why is a conjunction linking the noun reason to the phrase “you took my book.” (Equivalent usage includes the phrases “the place where” and “the time when.”) But because is a conjunction, too. However, I’m puzzled by why one is accepted and the other isn’t. I will continue to avoid combining reason and why in my own writing but will forgive the combination when I am editing that of others - and, of course, it is correct when reason is a verb, rather than a noun, as in “to reason why” - and I will not tolerate “the reason is because” in any form. (However, “the reason is because” has no such pedigree.) Only in the twentieth century did prescriptivist grammarians begin to urge writers to, whenever possible, use “the reason that” (or one of the other alternatives mentioned above). “The reason why” has been used frequently throughout the history of Modern English as well as that of Middle English - all the way back to the 1200s. Instead of “The reason is because I thought it was mine,” one can write, “The reason is that I thought it was mine,” “The reason is, I thought it was mine,” “I took it because I thought it was mine,” or, simply, “I thought it was mine.” (“Because I thought it was mine” is acceptable in informal usage.) In place of “I want to know the reason why you took my book,” one can write “I want to know the reason (that) you took my book,” “I want to know why you took my book,” or “I want to know your reason for taking my book.” Yes, “the reason why” and “the reason is because” are redundant - guilty as charged. “The reason is because” has no supporters, but “the reason why,” despite also being idiomatic, is ubiquitous even among highly respected writers. But that stance (or, at least, part of it) is shaky. Many well-meaning writers and editors condemn “the reason why” and “the reason is because” for the crime of redundancy. Is There a Reason “the Reason Why” Is Considered Wrong? By Mark Nichol