Due to bad grammar!

Posted by Pak Guru on December 27th, 2017 | 2 responses | cause effect, disebabkan oleh, grammar, IELTS, karena, speaking, vocabulary, writing

This problem occurs due to people throw waste into the irrigation system.

Ok well it’s nice to use an alternative to because, but a change of cause effect signal can often mean a change of grammar.

Because

The grammar for because is familiar to most people:

Prices increased because demand increased.

In this structure, Prices increased is an independent clause (= it can stand alone as a sentence), and demand increased is also an independent clause.

We could also think of this structure as:

because + cause sentence

Due to

The grammar for due to is slightly different:

Prices increased due to an increase in demand.

In this case Prices increased is an independent clause, while an increase in demand is a noun (or noun phrase).

Again, this structure could also be thought of as:

due to + cause noun

Because of

 A common error is to treat because of in the same way as because. For example it is incorrect to say:

Prices increased because of demand increased.

Because of follows the same structure as due to:

Prices increased because of an increase in demand.

Review

So, let’s review these three cause effect signals:

• Prices increased because demand increased. (because + cause sentence)
• Prices increased because of an increase in demand. (because of + cause noun)
• Prices increased due to an increase in demand. (due to + cause noun)

And if we apply these to our opening example then we get:

• This problem occurs because people throw waste into the irrigation system.
• This problem occurs because of the irresponsible behaviour of people who throw waste into the irrigation system.
• This problem occurs due to the irresponsible behaviour of people who throw waste into the irrigation system.

Using a combination of these in your IELTS speaking and writing will help to increase your scores in all criteria.

2 responses to “Due to bad grammar!”

1. Iya says:

   December 27, 2017 at 3:14 pm

   Jangan pelit samples pak guru, berilah samples each case

   Reply
   • pakguru says:

     December 27, 2017 at 3:23 pm

     Hi Iya. I’m not sure what you mean by ‘samples’, but anyway I’ve changed some of the ‘examples’ that I gave so as to make them more ‘concrete’. I hope that’s what you mean? Anyway thanks for the feedback! 🙂

     Reply