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In a statement like

The weeds have grown overnight. The reason is because it rained yesterday

Is "the reason is because" good grammar? Isn't it better to say

The weeds have grown overnight because it rained yesterday

The second form seems simpler and the words the reason is seem to add nothing to the sentence. Is there any technical reason to avoid the longer form?

pavium
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9 Answers9

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I am going to disagree with some of the other answers here. I don't think there is anything grammatically wrong with either of the sentences.

The reason is because it rained yesterday.
The reason is that it rained yesterday.

I agree that this sentence sounds better with that, in part because because is redundant. But consider:

The reason he faked his suicide and went into hiding in Peoria using a fake name is because his life was in danger.
The reason he faked his suicide and went into hiding in Peoria using a fake name is
that his life was in danger.

In this case, I think because sounds superior to that. But don't these sentences have exactly the same grammatical structure? So how can the first one be ungrammatical and other one grammatical? I think the reason because sounds better now is that there is a large gap between reason and because, which means that now the redundancy becomes useful rather than superfluous.

Further, people have been using "the reason is because" for centuries. Consider this quote from Shakespeare (Romeo and Juliet):

thou wilt quarrel with a man for cracking nuts, having no other reason but because thou hast hazel eyes.

Surely, if reasons can't be because, this is also ungrammatical.

Finally, let me add that the Merriam-Webster dictionary agrees. From the conclusion of their long discussion at the above link:

In sum, "the reason is because" has been attested in literary use for centuries. If you aren't comfortable using the phrase, or feel that it's awkward, don't use it. But maybe lay off the criticism of others—there's really no argument against it. The phrase may grate on your nerves (along with "the reason why is because"), but it puts people who apply it in some very distinguished literary company.

Peter Shor
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    "The event happened BECAUSE xxx", but "The reason that the event happened WAS xxx" – James Jul 19 '11 at 17:34
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    Upvoting because the reason we have redundancy in language is to improve its reliability as a means of communication. – FumbleFingers Jul 23 '11 at 14:23
  • I agree with you Peter, I too think your 'because' version sounds more natural. But the two sentence don't have quite the same structure. The problem is that the verb 'be' is a copular or linking verb, and theoretically you're not meant to use an adverbial clause (because...) after a copular verb. But a 'that' clause is OK because it's technically a noun clause. But then we're not meant to say 'It's me' either, but we all do. That's why I say theoretically. I'm with Colin Fine and Fumblefingers. – RandomIdeaEnglish Aug 28 '11 at 19:12
  • @RandomIdeaEnglish: I agree. We do not say "the reason is because." Because starts ADV clauses. That starts NOUN clauses. Alenanno is also correct. "The reason is because" is redundant. (The same principle applies to "the reason why." We don't need the word why. It is redundant.) –  Sep 28 '11 at 01:37
  • I agree the first of your 2nd pair is better, but I think your reason isn't exactly the right one. It's because that phrasing invites us split off the introductory "The only good reason to...", leaving the advisory maxim "Go to graduate school in English [is] because you love it (not for other reasons)". Which I can't actually parse anyway - did you mean "in England"? – FumbleFingers Jan 21 '12 at 15:13
  • @FumbleFingers: would it have been clearer if I'd said in Mathematics? – Peter Shor Jan 21 '12 at 16:36
  • Not really! Perhaps in US usage "graduate school in [subject]" is more clearly recognised as a "self-contained" composite noun phrase. In the UK we don't normally use "graduate school" as a noun anyway, and I'm certainly not familiar with the idea distinguishing between different types thereof that specialise in a particular subject. Also, I assume in your example you mean because you love English, but my attempt to parse it ends up with because you love that graduate school (which specialises in English). – FumbleFingers Jan 21 '12 at 17:29
  • The examples above sound fine, but compare them with the following: The only good reason to go to grad school is that you love English. The only good reason to go to grad school is because you love English....The reason is because you love English – Adam Feb 15 '13 at 07:56
  • I don't think the problem is redundancy but rather a violation of the syntax of because, which is always A because B, where A and B are complete statements. But ‘The reason is’ is not a complete statement, unless is is read existentially. – Toothrot Apr 07 '19 at 15:05
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"The reason is because..." is wrong; the other one is the one to go with.

That "the reason" is already explaining why, i.e. the reason, so putting also because will create a sort of redundancy.

See this article, which goes more in depth.

Daniel
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Alenanno
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    Great reference, thanks Alenanno. It explains it so much better than I could. I had a feeling there was a kind of redundancy in there. – pavium Jul 15 '11 at 11:21
  • No problem at all! :) – Alenanno Jul 15 '11 at 11:22
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    There is indeed redundancy. That does not necessarily mean that anything is wrong. – Colin Fine Jul 15 '11 at 13:06
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    @Colin I'm not sure I understood you but... Well, usually redundancy, unless you use it intentionally, is not really correct. – Alenanno Jul 15 '11 at 14:12
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    @Alenanno: so the redundancy in using "-s" with "he" is not really correct? And the redundancy of using the negative-polarity "any" with "not" is not really correct? And the redundancy in French of saying "les bonnes jeunes filles" is not really correct? Languages are full of redundancy. Some instances of it are required by the grammar of a language. Others pass without notice. Some are singled out by prescriptivists as "incorrect" . – Colin Fine Jul 18 '11 at 14:37
  • @Colin: I said usually for a reason, Colin. My word-choice was not random. In some cases redundancy is correct (even if in my opinion the examples you provided are different from this case), but for example, in Italian we usually omit the personal pronoun, unless we want to be specific about it. You talk about prescriptivism, is that a hint meaning that you think "the reason is because" can be correct or acceptable? – Alenanno Jul 18 '11 at 16:07
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    In my view "correct" is a term irrelevant to linguistics, except sociolinguistics. It is a judgment of fashion, like the "correct" fork to use. Is "the reason is because" acceptable? certainly. – Colin Fine Jul 19 '11 at 10:12
  • The explanation given in the link is given strictly from the stand point of view and within the limits of grammar. However, the stylistics is not always in strict correspondence to the logic of grammar. At times, redundancy may be viewed as such from the standpoint of grammar, yet it may be making things clearer in a spoken speech and, therefore, absolutely justified. Take for example "a good fiend of George's".This is, in fact, a case of redundancy as the preposition "of" already signals that the fiend belongs to George, so the 's is not needed. Yet, it's absolutely correct to say so. – brilliant May 02 '17 at 23:09
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    I agree with Collin. You may say an expression sounds uneducated, ugly, inelegant, is discouraged by writing manuals, may be redundant, or is dispreferred. But you may not foist your prescriptivist norms on others as objectively “wrong.” Linguistics is a science, not a religion... – Richard Z Apr 08 '19 at 08:56
  • @RichardZ That's a very old answer you've commented on. If I was answering today, I wouldn't write the same answer so I might edit it both to reflect my opinion and to analyse the point of the question in a better way. – Alenanno Apr 09 '19 at 02:44
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    Oh, okay... good job. – Richard Z Apr 09 '19 at 06:04
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    I just want to point out that "the reason is because" is not necessarily a case of redundancy. At first glance, sure, but depending on how the writer/speaker means it, this could actually be less about redundancy - and more about logical chaining or sequencing. In the sense that "the reason is because", could mean something akin to "the reason is the reason due to the following", in the sense that what proceeds is a dissection of why that was the reason in the first place, and less of a discussion about the reason itself. I know it can be a bit overwhelming. Break the fourth wall. – Jay Welsh Dec 26 '19 at 16:47
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I think "The reason is that it rained yesterday" would be more appropriate. "The reason is because" does not seem to make much logical sense.

RegDwigнt
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david
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    This echoes my feelings about the reason is because. I tend to overuse the word that, but in some cases it seems right – pavium Jul 15 '11 at 11:16
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In ‘The Penguin Guide to Plain English’, Harry Blamires describes ‘the reason is because’ as ‘causational overkill’. You can see what he means, but my impression is that in BrEng, at least, ‘the reason is because’ is used at least as much as ‘the reason is that’.

Barrie England
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    I see no evidence in NGram that Brits are any more likely than Americans to use reason is because rather than reason is that. Big difference from my point of view is we're more likely to say the usage is gormless, where Americans might call it something like dorky. – FumbleFingers Jan 21 '12 at 15:04
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    @FumbleFingers: It's always worth remembering that nGrams records written, not spoken, language. I mentioned BrEng, only because I don't hear much AmEng. – Barrie England Jan 21 '12 at 15:33
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    Oh absolutely. I certainly wouldn't significantly disparage anyone for saying things like this - I set the bar a lot lower for speech. But that doesn't imply people who don't already know "correct" usage should learn to "talk improper". I think many people trying to learn "normal" usage here on ELU are misled by answers/comments endorsing usages which really shouldn't be encouraged. And that's notwithstanding the fact that, like you, I don't really do "correct" in general. Sloppy language isn't exactly a cardinal sin, but it shouldn't be overly encouraged - especially on ELU. – FumbleFingers Jan 21 '12 at 15:43
  • @FumbleFingers: 'Setting the bar lower' for speech makes it sound as if spoken langauge is in some way inferior to written language, but that's perhaps not what you meant. I hear many people whose speech is above reproach say 'the reason is . . .because', to the extent that it is now 'normal usage'. The problem with a site like ELU is in knowing who it's for. I don't regard it as being primarily for foreign learers of English, although I'm happy to help them where I can. – Barrie England Jan 21 '12 at 15:57
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    Yes, I'd like to think ELU is primarily for "competent speakers" to explore the intricacies of (spoken & written) usage. But undeniably (esp of late) there are many "beginners" whose main exposure is to speech and "social network" postings. I don't think speech is "inferior" in any meaningful sense - I just mean many people have a tendency to ignore/downplay "correct" usage in such contexts. I often write things in Comments (hopefully not Answers) here on ELU that I myself would decry (or at least, not defend) in less "ephemeral" written contexts. – FumbleFingers Jan 21 '12 at 16:46
  • Say hello to my little friend : the reason is because – TimR Aug 19 '23 at 14:27
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"The reason is because" means the same thing as "The reason is [that]", but it does NOT follow that because is redundant or incorrect. Instead, because is playing a non-semantic role in the larger sentence.

This is easiest to understand in the context of spoken language, where the because would be acting as a filler word. Imagine stretching it out further: "The reason is, um, because, well, like, ..." It's perfectly normal in English to use semantically duplicative words as filler, instead of um/er/uh.

In written language, because is instead used (or not used) to improve rhythm and flow. Consider the following two examples, both from writers whose stylistic chops are impeccable:

“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”
[1915, Robert Frost]

“… 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.”
[1932, Alexander Woollcott]

(both quotations copied from this article which contains a good deal more descriptive analysis of this construction)

In both cases, omitting the because (or substituting that) would make the clause transition jar. In the latter case, with the caused-state in between the reason and is because, the because also serves to remind the reader of the overall structure of the sentence.

zwol
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  1. The reason is because... "X".

  2. The reason is that... "X".

The phrase "the reason is" implies a causal relationship between two events or states. For example the reason that the wagon is red is that I painted it with red paint. The wagon being red is caused by my painting it. I could also say the wagon is red because I painted it. Cause: I painted; effect: it is red.

So If I say, “the reason is because,” what I really am saying is that the cause of there being a reason is that I painted it. This is akin to saying, “I painted the wagon and that is why it is red because I painted it.”

So, indeed No. 1 is a redundancy, a grammatical error, and a logical violation. Much like saying “ATM machine” – (a machine that makes ATMs I suppose), or that something “is comprised of” its constituent parts. But I suppose those are separate topics.

Dread
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The weeds have grown overnight. The reason is because it rained yesterday.

That's the kind of sentence a teacher of expository writing is likely to flag as verbose or chatty/talky, not as "ungrammatical" or "incorrect".

because is being used as a stand-in for that:

The reason is that it rained yesterday.

But because and the content clause can be tacked directly onto the preceding clause without "the reason is" between them, yielding more succinct expression, which is considered a virtue in expository writing.

The weeds have grown overnight because it rained yesterday.

A teacher of fiction writing might welcome the original version as being true to how many people speak.

TimR
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If you say "The reason...is because" you are redundant. "The reason" is another way to say "because." Also, I think it is incorrect to say "The reason why." This is because the question word "why" entices you to answer with "because," and it is grammatically incorrect to say "the reason...is because."

Michael
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If viewed in isolation, it is not a very smooth English phrase, though it is right grammatically. But this could be an answer to a very specific query, where the question was stressed on the word “reason”.

Brian Hooper
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Zuraiq
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