‘Because’ or ‘since’? Experts debate
In the ‘since’ vs. ‘because’ debate, the objective of easily understood writing takes precedence over ironclad linguistic edicts.
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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