because of

From Wiktionary

Expression[change]

Expression
because of

  1. You use because of to show the reason for something.
    There's no class because of the holiday.
    We couldn't leave the island because of the bad weather.

Usage[change]

  1. The preposition because can be followed by a clause (e.g., because it was good), while the expression because of should be followed by a noun phrase (e.g., because of the weather).
  2. It is important to watch out for the ambiguity when because of is used in a negative sentence, as in The case was not brought before the committee because of the incident the night before. This can be read either as a reason (the incident happened and so the case was not brought), or a denial of a reason (the incident happened, but this is not why the case was brought).

Related words[change]