Please write to avoid misuse of the following wording in your term papers. Points will be deducted for errors.
1) due to ≠ because
of:
“Due to” has sense of owing/owed- Do not use it if you mean “because of” or “caused by”
Examples:
CORRECT
“A standard monetary kick-back to pass the class is due to the instructor”
“My train is due to arrive at 5:30 pm”
INCORRECT- “Your instructor requires a kick-back due
to his extravagant lifestyle”
CORRECT- “Your instructor requires a kick-back because of his extravagant lifestyle”
INCORRECT- “You bribe your instructor due to
your need to get a good grade”
CORRECT- “You bribe your instructor because of your need to get a good grade”
INCORRECT- “A major water issue is the lack of water
filtration devices due to the country’s lack of hard currency”
2) since ≠
because:
“Since”
has element of time- Do not use it in place of “because”
Examples:
CORRECT- “Since the beginning of the
semester, I have had to wake up before noon”
INCORRECT- “Since
I teach a 12-12:50 class, I must wake up before noon”
CORRECT- “Because I teach a 12-12:50
class, I must wake up before noon”
INCORRECT- “Since
they are making me teach, I have to wake up before noon”
CORRECT- “Because they are making me teach,
I have to wake up before noon”
3) because ≠ whereas ≠
while:
“While” has element of time- Do not use it in place of “whereas” or “although”
These conjunctions are not interchangeable. Use because if causality is suggested by the second conjoined sentence. Use whereas and while if the second conjoined sentence contrasts the meaning of the first sentence or phrase, but like the word since, while conveys the element of time (sometimes although will be the proper alternative to while).
Examples:
INCORRECT- “I drive a full-size Hummer, while Laura
drives a Kia”
CORRECT- “I drive a full-size Hummer, whereas Laura drives a Kia”
CORRECT- “I normally bake cookies while Rebecca grades the quizzes”
INCORRECT- “While prepackaged confections are good, I
prefer to bake my own”
CORRECT- “Although prepackaged confections are good, I prefer to bake my own”
INCORRECT- “While a bribe may seem like a good idea,
you really better think that one through”
CORRECT- “Although a bribe may seem like a good idea, you really better think that one through”
INCORRECT- “While the country borders the Indian
Ocean, the government has had a difficult time supplying adequate water for the
population”
4) that ≠ which:
These troublesome words are not interchangeable. The pronoun that is restrictive, referring to one specific object, whereas which is nonrestrictive, referring to a choice that must be made when more than one object exists (Hart 1976; Strunk and White 1979).
Examples:
CORRECT- “I keep a top-secret list that contains names of students not attending class”
CORRECT- “It is better to give than receive, which is a good motto for life”
CORRECT- “The air pressure that exists outside the plane at 35,000 feet is about one-fourth of sea-level pressure, which is a good reason why the environment in the plane is controlled”
CORRECT- “Over 54 tons of organic pollutants were discharged to waterways in the Dominican Republic every day in 1980, which is likely to have since increased.”
5) Never begin sentences with There are,
There is, There were (or their variants) because they indicate a wordy sentence that can be
restructured for clarity (Hart 1976). There should never be the subject.”(from Grissino-Mayer 2003)
Examples:
INCORRECT- “There is more than one way to
write a sentence”
CORRECT- “A sentence may be written more than
one way”
INCORRECT- “There are many toxic chemicals
found associated with mercury mining”
CORRECT- “Many toxic chemicals are associated
with mercury mining”