Avoid Repeating BECAUSE! - Use these ADVANCED English alternatives! (+ Free PDF & Quiz)

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- Hello everyone and welcome back to English with Lucy.

Today, I'm going to teach you,

not only how to improve your vocabulary,

but also how to improve your writing.

I think this lesson is really important.

We're going to take a look at because,

and because of as well.

These words tend to be repeated far too often.

I do it myself.

I write an essay and I find myself using because, because,

because of, because of, all the time,

but you can't just pick another word and put it in there.

It has to fit and it has to work grammatically.

In this lesson, I'm going to give you a selection

of alternative words that you can use

in place of because and because of.

You have to be careful with those two but I will explain.

To help you even more with your English learning journey,

I have created a free PDF and a quiz for this lesson

so you can test out your learning and understanding.

If you'd like to download the free PDF and quiz,

all you have to do is click on the link

in the description box and your name and your email address,

you sign up to my mailing list

and I send the PDF directly to your inbox.

Before we get started,

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Right, let's get started with the lesson.

Firstly, let's take a look at the difference

between because and because of.

It might sound simple, but it really isn't.

It stumps, confuses a lot of my students.

Because on its own is a conjunction

and it's followed by a subject and a verb.

Because she felt tired, she didn't go out.

Because she felt tired, she didn't go out.

Because of is a two word preposition.

It's followed by a noun phrase or verb -ing.

Because of her tiredness, that's a noun phrase,

she didn't go out.

Or because of her feeling tired, she didn't go out.

There's a lot more to say on this matter

but I think that's enough for now.

Enough for you to understand

all of these alternatives for because and because of

that I'm going to show you.

So to show you all of the alternatives,

I'm going to tell you a story so it's not so boring.

I'm going to tell you about my education,

my journey through various schools

and whether I found it easy or difficult.

I'm first going to show you the sentence using because

or because of and then I'm going to show you

that same sentence

with an alternative for because or because of.

Let's begin with number one.

When I was a child, I lived in a tiny village

because my parents loved the peaceful countryside.

Now here, we can replace because with as.

As is a direct synonym for because,

but it's a secondary one.

As can be used quite easily in place of because.

When I was a child, I lived in a tiny village

as my parents loved the peaceful countryside.

Another example.

Only 60 students attended the local primary school

as it was very rural.

So you can use because here or as.

Because it was very rural, as it was very rural.

Rural is a word that lots of students struggle to pronounce.

Rural.

It means isolated or surrounded by countryside.

No towns or cities around.

Let's move on to the next alternative.

Because of this, we were blessed with a great ratio

of teachers to students.

So here I've used because of.

We can replace this with due to.

Due to this, we were blessed with a great ratio

of teachers to students.

Another example.

Due to the small class sizes,

I had to invite the entire school year

to my birthday parties, but don't worry,

in my year there were three boys and four girls.

At one point, there were seven students

in my entire year at school.

Let me know how many students

there were at your first school.

I would love to know in the whole school.

For me, 60 students.

Because of the small class sizes,

due to the small class sizes, both work there.

Due to describes results and effects.

Let's move on to the next alternative.

Here's the first sentence.

When I was nine,

I moved up to a middle school with 500 students.

I was so excited because I would get to meet new people.

We can replace because with due to the fact that.

So because of, due to.

Because, due to the fact that.

Due to the fact that might sound quite long,

but it's a really great alternative.

If you can keep it in your head,

it replaces because not because of really, really well.

I was so excited due to the fact that

I would get to meet new people.

Due to the fact that.

Can you hear when I say?

I'm not saying due to the fact that,

I say due to the fact that.

Due to the fact that.

Fact that.

I miss out that T sound when I'm speaking quickly

because it's too much effort for my tongue

to say fact that, fact that.

Due to the fact that.

Another example.

I found this school difficult due to the fact that

I'd never interacted with so many people before.

I went from knowing 60 students to 500 students

and I remember it was a much bigger school.

I got lost in it. (laughing)

Let's move on to another alternative.

We have the example sentence.

Eventually I moved to a girl's school.

I hated this school

because I found the girls to be very unfriendly.

We can replace because with since.

And since is quite a formal equivalent for because.

I hated this school

since I found the girls to be very unfriendly.

Another example.

Since the school was very far away,

I had to get up at six in the morning

and I didn't get home till after six in the evening.

So for four years of my life, I had a 12-hour school day,

(laughing)

which I wasn't too happy about.

My parents never planned for the day to be so long,

but after I enrolled in this school,

the Council started building a new road

and the road took four years to complete.

So instead of going directly on the bus to the school,

we had to go all the way around

and it took two hours each way.

Let's move on to the next one.

Another alternative for because of.

I didn't have much free time,

because of this I lived for the weekends.

We can replace because of this with as a result of this.

This is very similar to due to.

As a result of this, I lived for the weekends.

I always remember feeling really excited

on a Friday when I got home

and really depressed on a Sunday night

when I realised I'd have to get up at five something

to catch the bus at six o'clock.

I bet lots of people who commute to work can relate to that.

Another example.

During this period, I missed a lot of school

as a result of an illness called mononucleosis.

Because of an illness, as a result of an illness.

Both work.

And this is true.

I caught an illness called mononucleosis.

It's also known as glandular fever.

Lots of young people catch this illness

and most people recover in a couple of months.

I will tell you what happened in the next example.

I recovered from the virus in three months,

but I spent the next three to four years

suffering from severe fatigue.

I became depressed because of this.

Here we can replace because of with thanks to.

I became depressed thanks to this.

Thanks to this, I became depressed.

Thanks to could be used

for both positive and negative outcomes.

So this is a negative one.

Thanks to my illness, I was depressed.

Obviously that's negative.

An example of a positive outcome with thanks to.

Thanks to the support of my family,

I slowly made a full recovery.

Because of the support of my family,

I slowly made a full recovery.

I was 14 when I caught that virus

and it took until I was 16 to feel near normal,

and 18 before I felt completely normal again.

It was so strange, post viral fatigue.

At 16, I returned to a co-educational high school.

Co-ed short for coeducational is a school with both genders

rather than a girls school or a boys school

called single-sex schools.

I found it very strange to be around boys

because I had spent four years with girls.

Here we can replace because with for.

And this is slightly more formal.

It's often used in poetry.

I found it very strange to be around boys

for I had spent four years with girls.

It does sound very poetic, but I like it.

Another example.

I found it hard to make friends

for everyone had known one another for many years.

I've got two more examples.

Another alternative.

I focused on studying Spanish

because of my desire to escape my situation.

Here, we can replace because of with out of.

Out of serves to explain feelings and emotions.

You'll often hear I did something out of curiosity.

Because of, due to curiosity.

Out of with feelings and emotions.

I focused on studying Spanish

out of my desire to escape my situation.

And the last alternative,

hopefully ending this story on a positive note.

Because I speak a second language,

I feel so much happier as a person.

We can replace this with now that.

Now that I speak a second language,

I feel so much happier as a person.

And it's true.

Learning a second language absolutely changed my life.

I was one of those people who really didn't enjoy school.

I did the majority of my learning once I'd left school.

That's when I started experimenting with languages,

learning how to teach, learning how to create videos.

I wonder if any of you would like to share

your experience with school in the comment section?

I know that so many people absolutely loved school.

I mean my fiance Will adored his school days.

And for me, it's really strange.

It's hard for me to understand

because for me school was such a negative thing.

However, I do think predominantly it was a me problem.

My problem, not the school's problems

because lots of other people

seem to have a fantastic time there.

Anyway, happy now. (laughing)

I really hope you enjoyed this lesson.

Don't forget to complete the quiz.

You can share your results in the comment section.

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You can click on any sound and hear how I pronounce it.

I will see you soon for another lesson.

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