Because I Said So

Instant Quiz

Can you correct the error in the sentence below? Scroll to the bottom of today’s post for the answer. 

Gabe is always in trouble because he insists on flaunting the rules.

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My husband has been the garden writer for a newspaper for 32 years. His first editor was a pleasant young woman who — unfortunately — had some odd ideas about writing. One of them was her belief that because was a bad word.

Every time Charlie used because in an article, she would call and ask him to change it. Since gardening involves a great deal of why information (“You should use mulch because….”), there were many of those phone calls.

Charlie was never able to convince her that because is a perfectly respectable word. We weren’t sorry when she left for another newspaper and a new set of journalists to annoy.

Several months later I unexpectedly discovered the likely reason for her fear of because: it can be ambiguous if you use it in a negative sentence — one with didn’t, couldn’t, wouldn’t, or a similar word. Here’s an example: “We didn’t buy the house because of its landscaping.” You picture a house with dying shrubs and messy flowerbeds.

In an actual conversation, that sentence can take on a different meaning: “We didn’t buy the house because of its landscaping. What really appealed to us was the deck overlooking the lake.”

Now the meaning is clear. As so often happens with language, context solves the problem. There’s no reason to worry about because.

Apparently some writers still aren’t convinced, however. I just came across an article about this issue from the Modern Language Association. They suggest inserting a comma when you use because in a negative sentence: “We didn’t buy the house, because of its landscaping.”

The MLA is a prestigious organization, and I’m not going to be the one to argue with them. But that seems to be a flimsy solution. (I guess I really am arguing with them!)

I rely on a writing rule that has never let me down: don’t try to fix an ambiguous sentence with a punctuation mark. Recast the sentence instead. Here’s my solution: “Although we love its landscaping, that’s not the reason we bought this house.” Problem solved!

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Instant Quiz ANSWER

The word you need today is flout. (Flaunt refers to showing off.) 

Gabe is always in trouble because he insists on flouting the rules.  CORRECT

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