Day 40: Use because not as to show cause.

Many words in the English language have more than one meaning and more than one use. As is one such word. The primary use of as is to communicate that two or more actions are happening simultaneously. Consider this sentence.

“I was singing as I was driving.”

In this case, “singing” and “driving” are happening at the same time.

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The word as is also used to communicate causality. Consider the following sentence.

“I was displeased as I was unaware that the plans had changed.”

In this case, being unaware of the changed plans caused me to be displeased.

Here’s the problem. When the reader reads as, he or she will first think the sentence is communicating simultaneous actions. Only when the reader reads the rest of the sentence will he or she realize that the sentence is communicating causality.

To avoid this confusion, use because when explaining why something occurs.

Because only communicates causality, so the reader will easily understand the sentence. This gives us the following revision.

“I was displeased because I was unaware that the plans had changed.”