because.... / for..../ because of

Question

Hi there teachers,

Is there any difference in the meaning(s) of the following sentences?

1). Jane's mother scolded her because she hadn't done her home-work.

2). Jane's mother scolded her for she hadn't done her home-work.

3). Jane's mother scolded her because of not doing her home-work. (dear teaches, I don't know for sure if this sentence is correct grammatically. If it's not, could I say this as "Jane's mother scolded her because of her not doing her home-work"?)

Teachers, could anyone of you please provide some examples to me illustrating the difference between "because" and "because of"?

Thank you.

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

See this page: http://gmat-grammar.blogspot.com.es/2006/07/because-vs-because-of.html

GPY · Answer

(1) is correct except that "homework" is one word. (2) is theoretically possible with "for" in the sense of "because", but such use of "for" tends to be literary or formal, and it doesn't seem to fit the overall tone here.

Both "not doing her homework" and "her not doing her homework" can be noun phrases, so in principle can grammatically follow "because of" (see the link that Anon posted). However, in practice they sound awkward in your sentence. "not doing her homework" also seems to "dangle" without a clear subject.

Laborious · Answer

Thank you, Anonymous, for the link you gave and I've read what's given on that page about 'because' and 'because of'. But I'm afraid that the link you gave doesn't seem to answer all the questions I had about 'because' and 'because of'. I think I'm still confused about 'because of' and its proper usage.

- Were my sentences both correct?

My sentence were:
- Jane's mother scolded her because of not doing her home-work.
- Jane's mother scolded her because of her not doing her home-work.

Thank you again, Anon.

Laborious · Answer

Thank you, dear GPY, for your kind reply. I've understood what you said in your post. But, could you give me some examples please where the '-ing form of a verb' fits well after 'because of'?

Thank you.

GPY · Answer

LaboriousThank you, dear GPY, for your kind reply. I've understood what you said in your post. But, could you give me some examples please where the '-ing form of a verb' fits well after 'because of'?

This would work when an "-ing" form is a strong noun in its own right, such as "The road was closed because of flooding". I can't at the moment think of any flawless examples analagous to "... because of not doing her homework". Something like "He was filthy because of playing in the mud" might pass, but on closer inspection it seems to me to have the same "dangling" problem.

Cases analogous to "because of her not doing her homework" may be more logically sound, but the construction tends to feel laborious and unnecessary in the examples I can think of. For example, instead of "I was fired because of my taking too many breaks", why would you not say "I was fired because I took too many breaks"?

There are plentiful examples where the "-ing" form is adjectival, such as "The event was cancelled because of growing security concerns", but I imagine that is not really what you are looking for.

because.... / for..../ because of

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