Stuart's Daily Word Spot: Since or because?

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Since or because? Since: adverb – then, immediately after; from the specified time until now; at a timebetween that time and now or that time and the time under consideration; ago, before:conjunction - from the time that; duringor in the time subsequent; from the time in the past when; up to the presenttime or the time being considered from the time in the past; the time when;when; because, seeing that.
Because: adverb - for thereason that; by reason of, on account of: conjunction- for the reason that, inasmuch as, since; can also be used elliptically inanswer to a question, implying that a full response has been withheld; in orderthat, with the purpose that.
Whilst these terms can be and, indeed,often are used as if interchangeable, in writing it's probably best to stick to'since' only when referring to time and to use 'because' to establishcausality. When 'since' is used to suggest cause it may make your reader tostop to consider its meaning. Such pause for thought is not often somethingyou'd want to encourage.
'Because Frances wanted thecompany of more than one animal in her home, she filled the place with cats,dogs, rabbits and even a rather ancient and mangy donkey she'd discoveredwandering the streets.'
'Since Sandra stopped shoppingsequentially, she sought some significant substitute.'  This is poor, as the reader doesn't knowwhether the cessation of shopping was responsible for Sandra's search orwhether she merely decided to seek something different once she'd finished hershopping.
'Because Sandra stopped….' Is amuch clearer way of stating the former, I think; though it lacks thealliteration, of course.
'Since mankind wandered out ofAfrica and set up shop over the various continents of the world, the search forcommodities to buy has grown continuously.' Here, it's clear that we're referring to the passage of time between theexodus and the present day.