| 词组 | reason is because |
| 释义 | reason is because Bremner 1980 succinctly states two objections to the reason is because; The grammatical reason for the error in "The reason he failed is because he didn't study" is that the reason is calls for a nounal clause: "The reason he failed * is that he didn't study." The adverbial conjunction because is correct in "He failed because he didn't study." A simpler reason is that because means "for the reason that" and therefore one would be saying, "The reason he failed is for the reason that which is as redundant as saying "The because is because." Bremner's first objection is a 20th-century one; the second is older. The grammatical objection that because can only introduce an adverbial clause qualifying a verb and hence is wrong introducing a noun clause synonymous with reason was presumably erected to buttress the older objection, but who first formulated it we do not know. It is, however, mentioned in Fowler 1926, Utter 1916, and MacCracken & Sandison 1917. Evans 1957 offers the best treatment of the grammatical question. He notes that because in most cases introduces a clause that qualifies a verb and is therefore said to be an adverbial conjunction. He also notes that some grammarians claim that because cannot be used in any other way and especially that it cannot introduce a noun clause. But Evans disagrees: Because may certainly introduce a noun clause that is joined to it, this, or that by some form of the verb to be, as in if you are hungry it is because you didn't eat. This has been standard English for centuries and the very grammarians who condemn the use of because in a noun clause do not hesitate to write this is because. One of those objecting grammarians was H. W. Fowler, and he indeed did use because after is to introduce a noun clause: • There is indeed no mystery about why people go wrong; it is because, if the thing had to be said without the use of the verb like, would & not should is the form to use —Fowler 1926, s.v. like, v. And if because can refer to a pronoun like it, this, or that, Evans continues, there is no reason it should not refer to a noun like reason. In other words, the grammatical objection has no basis in principle. It is erected ad hoc to rationalize dislike of the reason is because and is not invoked in other cases where because introduces a noun clause. But this has not prevented commentators from repeating the assertion or from defending it. In American Speech, February 1933, Fannye N. Cherry of the University of Texas established the standardness of is because by producing 31 citations of the construction from writers from Samuel Johnson to Robert Benchley; many well-known 19th-century writers such as Poe, Hawthorne, Thackeray, Hardy, Scott, and Stevenson were included. She also had examples of the reason is because from Bacon, Swift, and Addison. So with the grammatical argument disposed of, the objectors must get along with the older charge of redundancy (as most of them do anyway). Bremner's summary is both succinct and apt, for he has used exactly the same test for redudancy that the original objector, Baker 1770, did: he defines because as "for the reason that" (Baker used "by Reason") and finds it redundant with the earlier reason in the sentence. Baker did not apply the term redundant; he merely said, "This Expression does not make Sense." Any lexicographer can see the fault in that argument at once: because has been defined in such a way as to guarantee that it will be redundant or not make sense. Unless people actually write sentences like "The reason he failed is for the reason that..."—and in general they do not—there is no reason to assume that because has the meaning the critics assign it. Lexicographers have to define words in situ, not in the abstract, removed from context, and they know how easy it is to make hash of any sentence by deciding beforehand that a word in it means something other than what the author intended. If, instead, you grant that because can have the meaning "the fact that" or simply be equivalent to the conjunction that, the phrase the reason is because makes quite clear sense and is not redundant. So we conclude that there is no sufficient basis for either the 18th-century or the 20th-century objection. But there still remains a question of the kind of writing in which the construction is used. Is it relatively rare in literary use and found primarily in dialectal use or in the speech of the uneducated? We think these examples will answer: • The Reason was, because the Religion of the Heathen, consisted rather in Rites and Ceremonies —Francis Bacon, Essays, 1625 • ... but Gad, the strongest reason is because I can't help it —John Dryden, Marriage à-la-Mode, 1673 • We may call them the weaker sex, but I think the true reason is because our Follies are stronger and our faults more prevailing —William Congreve, "Concerning Humour in Comedy," 1695 • The reason I tell you so is, because it was done by your parson —Jonathan Swift, Journal to Stella, 14 May 1711 • "You must know," says Will, "the reason is, because they consider every animal as a brother or sister in disguise " —Joseph Addison, The Spectator, 3 Apr. 1712 (in Cherry) • The reason is because it is of more importance ... that innocence should be protected than it is that guilt should be punished —John Adams, final argument in defense of the British soldiers involved in the Boston Massacre, 1770 • And the reason is, because language is not made either by Grammarians or Philosophers —Thomas Reid, Essays on the Intellectual Power of Man, 1785 (in Tucker 1967) • If the fellow who wrote it seems to know more of my goings and comings than he could without complicity of mine, the reason is because he is a lovely old boy and quite took possession of me while I was in Boston —Robert Frost, letter, 22 Mar. 1915 • The reason every one now tries to avoid it, to deny that it is important, to make it seem vain to try to do it, is because it is so difficult —Ernest Hemingway, Green Hills of Africa, 1935 • One of the reasons so many found it difficult to understand Billy Mitchell was because the man was a stark realist —Eddie Rickenbacker, Chicago Tribune Mag. of Books, 28 Dec. 1952 • The only reason my appearances are rare (and this is something I don't usually disclose) is because nobody asks me oftener —Groucho Marx, letter, 22 Oct. 1951 • ... they live in their own right, and the reason is because Sturt was not only aware but also because nature, thought and experience had made him compassionate —Times Literary Supp., 13 July 1967 • The reason such a job won't be done again is simply because nobody can afford it —William Morris, College Composition and Communication, October 1969 • The reason the story has never been made into a film is because I won't sign a contract —E. B. White, letter, 28 Oct. 1969 • One of the reasons Fulton is in such constant demand in all the media is because he is such a grafter —Paul Foster, Scottish Field, March 1975 • ... the reason for talking about his technique at all is because it was his means of producing that light — John Wain, American Scholar, Summer 1986 Except for Adams, these examples are all from written sources, a good many of them literary, with some letters and journals. The Dryden example was spoken by one of the heroes in the play. The phrase existed in 17th-century speech, and it exists in 20th-century speech: • ... I think the reason anyone writes is because it's fun —William Faulkner, 30 May 1957, in Faulkner in the University, 1959 You may have noticed that in the 20th-century examples, reason is often separated from the because clause by intervening matter, sometimes quite long. In the older examples reason is more frequently found right next to is because. Reason and because are sometimes found in constructions where they are linked by than: • ... upon no wiser a Reason than because it is wondrous Dark —Jonathan Swift, A Tale of A Tub, 1710 • I didnt want to be the one to direct you to the Gum Gatherer; but it is a favorite of mine if for no other reason than because it is the only poem that I know of that has found a way to speak poetically of chewing gum —Robert Frost, letter, 19 Feb. 1919 • Occasionally, I write out what I have said in verse, and generally for no better reason than because I remember that I have written no verse for a long time —The Autobiography of William Butler Yeats, 1953 • ... for no other reason than because he's a tenor singer! —Ring Lardner, How to Write Short Stories, 1924 In this construction, too, because introduces a noun clause. No treatment of the reason is because would be complete without mention of the doubly "redundant" the reason why is because (see also reason why). It is more common in older sources (it seems to have been a favorite construction of Swift's) than newer ones but is certainly not yet extinct: • ... the true reason why the country gentlemen are for a land-tax, and against a general excise, is, because they are fearful that if the latter be granted, they shall never get it down again —Samuel Pepys, diary, 5 Nov. 1666 • And the reason why we are often louder than the players is, because we think we speak more wit — William Wycherly, The Country Wife, 1675 • Now, the Reason why those Antient Writers treated this Subject only by Types and Figures, was, because they durst not make open Attacks —Jonathan Swift, A Tale of A Tub, 1710 • And perhaps the reason why common Criticks are inclin'd to prefer a judicious and methodical Genius to a great and fruitful one, is, because they find it easier for themselves —Alexander Pope, preface to translation of the Iliad, Book III, 1715 • He saw that the reason why witchcraft was ridiculed was, because it was a phase of the miraculous —W. E. H. Lecky, History of Rationalism in Europe, 1865 (in Hodgson 1889) • The reason why all we novelists ... are abandoning novels and taking to writing motion-picture scenarii is because the latter are so infinitely the more simple —P. G. Wodehouse, Something Fresh, 1915 • ... one of the reasons why I am not particularly well read today is because I have spent so large a part of the last twenty years rereading Dickens and Jane Austen —Alexander Woollcott, letter, 15 Mar. 1932 • The reason why his conclusion concerning Frege's argument seemed plausible at the time was because his propositional constituents are entities rather than the names of those entities —Ronald J. Butler, Philosophical Rev., July 1954 • ... he clung to the literal truth of every word of the Bible, to the extent of believing that the reason why the Mastodons had become extinct... was because they were too big to get into the Ark —Times Literary Supp., 19 Sept. 1968 Practically everything that we have shown you so far is from writing, although there are three instances of fictitious speech (Dryden, Wycherly, Addison) and three of real speech (Adams, Faulkner, and Hemingway, who is quoting himself being interviewed). Bryant 1962 reports several studies showing the reason is that—the form prescribed by teachers of composition—occurs in edited prose about twice as often as the reason is because; the same studies show the proportion approximately reversed in speech. We have good evidence of the latter's currency in speech. In 1986 and 1987 we have recorded it from a counsel at the Iran-Contra hearings, a local newscaster, television actor Edward Woodward, and such sports figures as Lee Trevino, Henry Aaron, Jim Palmer, and Billy Martin. To these we can add the colleague who remarked of a newspaper story, "The reason she has a Mercedes is because her husband is an orthopedic surgeon." A few points made earlier in passing should be underlined. You will note, as Bryant did also, that the reason is because occurs more often than not with words intervening between reason and is because, especially in the 20th-century evidence. You will also note that the evidence is heavily literary; the reason is because is not a locution avoided by writers. We suspect, however, that its use is often a matter of habit. We have multiple examples from Francis Bacon, Jonathan Swift, Alexander Woollcott, Ernest Hemingway, and Groucho Marx—not bad company for a writer. In conclusion, the locution the reason is because has been attested in literary use for about three and a half centuries. It has been the subject of denigration for more than two centuries. Both the literary use and the disapproval will doubtless continue unabated. Reason and because seem to go together, probably, as Bryant remarks, because "the natural connective stressing the idea of reason is because." Our examination of the reasons for condemning the locution shows that they have little foundation, though this will not prevent their being repeated frequently by teachers of composition and usage commentators still to come. We are not advising you to use the reason is because just because many well-known writers have used it. If it is not your natural idiom, there is no reason for you to cultivate it. But if it is your natural idiom and you choose to continue with it, you will surely be in some very distinguished company. |
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