Re: The reason is because...

On Wed, 1 Feb 2012 13:10:51 +0100, Athel Cornish-Bowden
<athel_cb@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On 2012-02-01 10:19:21 +0100, James Hogg <Jas.Hogg@xxxxxxxxxxxx> said:

Athel Cornish-Bowden wrote:
On 2012-01-31 07:49:58 +0000, James Hogg said:

Snidely wrote:
Skitt <skitt99@xxxxxxxxxxx> scribbled something like ...

Arcadian Rises wrote:

The reason of... is because...

I heard that construction many times, even from people whose
speeches are crafted by professional writers. But to my
non-native ear it doesn't sound right.

What say you?
It's not right.


The reason for {something} is because {explanatory otherthing}.

At least, that works for me at the moment.

The reason people object to this construction is for the reason
that the second reason is totally unnecessary.

It's the same with "the reason why", which means "the reason for
what reason".

Ours not to reason why.

You're being too subtle for me here (or I'm being to stupid to
understand which side you're on), but you raise a point that I've
wondered about. I don't say or write "the reason is because",
primarily because it was drummed into me WIWAL that I mustn't, but,
like just about everyone, I see nothing much wrong with "the reason
why". Can you explain why "the reason why" is acceptable and "the
reason is because" isn't, as it seems to me that whatever logic
applies to the one applies to the other?

Is it just the usual lack of consistency that one expects from
prescriptivists? (OK, I know -- see another thread -- that "a foolish
consistency?")

Prescriptivists don't like "the reason why" because the word "reason"
includes the idea of "why". It's enough to say "The reason he did it..."
After all, we don't say "That's the way how he did it."

That's logical, certainly, but I don't get the impression that most
prescriptivists get nearly so hot under the collar about it as they do
about "the reason is because".

That's the traditional prescriptivist view. I don't know how common it
is nowadays. "The reason why I met her" probably doesn't grate on many
people, no more than "The place where I met her."

"Why" is from the OE instrumental "hwi", so it would parallel "That's
the way in which he did it" rather than "...the way how he did it",
no? I reflect on "because", and in that way it seems more to parallel
"how".

--
Mike.
.

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