‘Because’ or ‘since’? Experts debate
In the ‘since’ vs. ‘because’ debate, the objective of easily understood writing takes precedence over ironclad linguistic edicts.
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Columnist and language expert Ben Yagoda resorted to all caps in a brief Twitter exchange on the difference (if any) between “since” and “because.”
“There is NEVER confusion,” he said several weeks ago during a chat sponsored by the American Copy Editors Society.
That was in response to my assertion that “because” remains safer than “since” where there may be confusion with a time element.
I tell my copy editing students to beware of absolutes in writing. Absolutes in all caps are especially risky. Yagoda offers a defense of his position in the Lingua Franca column in the Chronicle of Higher Education.
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