8.49 Reason clauses

When you want to indicate the reason for something, you use a reason clause.

Here is a list of the main conjunctions used in reason clauses:

• as, because, in case, just in case, since

8.50

If you are simply indicating the reason for something, you use 'because', 'since', or 'as'.

• I couldn't feel anger against him because I liked him too much.
• I didn't know that she had been married, since she seldom talked about herself.
• As Celia had gone to school, it seemed a good time for Lady Ravenscroft to invite her sister to stay.

8.51

You use 'in case' or 'just in case' when you are mentioning a possible future situation which is someone's reason for doing something. In the reason clause, you use the simple present tense.

• Mr Woods, I am here just in case anything out of the ordinary happens.

When you are talking about someone's reason for doing something in the past, you use the simple past tense in the reason clause.

• Sam had consented to take an overcoat in case the wind rose.

8.52

'In that', 'inasmuch as', 'insofar as', and 'to the extent that' are used to say why a statement you have just made is true. These are formal expressions.

• I'm in a difficult situation in that I have been offered two jobs and they both sound interesting.
• Censorship is feeble inasmuch as it does not protect anyone.
• We are traditional insofar as we do traditional sketches, but we try and do them about original ideas.
• He feels himself to be dependent to the extent that he is not free to question decisions affecting his daily life.

8.53

People sometimes use reason clauses beginning with 'for' or 'seeing that'. 'For' means the same as 'because'. Its use in reason clauses is now considered to be old-fashioned.

• We never see Henry these days, for Henry has grown fat and lazy.

'Seeing that' means the same as 'since'. It is used only in informal speech.

• Seeing that you're the guest on this little trip, I won't tell you what you what I think of your behaviour last night.

'Now' and 'now that' are used to say that a new situation is the reason for something. Clauses beginning with 'now' or 'now that' are dealt with as time clauses. They are explained in paragraph 8.18.