How to use "(Be) due (to)" - English Grammar

155,558 views ・ 2016-04-30

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Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

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You're in London, you're waiting for your bus, and you see this :
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"Due", what the hell is "due?"
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Really "due" (/ʤu:/), or "due" (/dju:/), you can pronounce it both ways,
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it just means it's expected.
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So, he could just say " the bus number 31 is..."
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expected now, so it's coming now"
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But there are other ways of using "due" :
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So, how do we use "due to"?
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This is a much more formal way to say something's expected at this time,
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so, usually, for scheduled things, for example with transport :
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So for example, my flight is due to arrive at 7,
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my train is due to leave or depart at 3,
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it's due to depart in thirty minutes.
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So, that "due to" just means it's expected to do something,
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do something at a scheduled time.
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Not just transport, another example :
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You could, but again, it's very formal, so you probably wouldn't say "the show is due to begin in 10 minutes"
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You could say that, but it's very formal, so probably, you should just say "the show is going to start in 10 minutes"
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A more common way of using "due" for an expected time is this :
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If you're pregnant,
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you might want to say :
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"the baby is going to come in 4 months",
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you could say "I'm due in 4 months",
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like "I'm expected to... give birth".
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So, does it only mean it's expected to happen at a certain time?
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No! There's another meaning!
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Let's imagine it's tennis season and today is a big big day, it's the final,
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but, there's too much rain,
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and you can't play.
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So, they have to cancel the match.
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You could say "it's cancelled because of the weather",
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"because of the rain"
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but you could also say "due to".
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So, could be : "it's cancelled due to the weather",
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"due to the rain".
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So, "due to", another meaning is "because of".
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But again, it's a much more formal way of saying "because of",
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you wouldn't say, for example,
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"I can't meet you today due to the weather".
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Your friend will think you're crazy.
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You'd say : "I can't meet you because of the weather, because of the rubbish rain that's always happening in London.."
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So, again, more formal way of saying "because of" : "due to".
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More formal way of saying "something's expected at a certain time", for example, transport, baby, you could say : "due to happen at a certain time"
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So, you want to give someone a formal reason for something :
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for example, if you lose your job, your boss might explain you the situation using "due to", for example :
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for example, if you lose your job because your breath is... really awful,
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your boss might say "we had to fire you because of, due to your bad breath".
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So, if you liked that lesson and wanna see more, click "suscribe",
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or click here to see another lesson.
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If there's an expression in English that you don't understand how to use, let us know in the comments!
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See you in the next class!
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Non-automatic English subtitles by Julie Descaves
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