If a sentence has a version of to be, use due to. The verb to be and all its forms ( am, are, is, was, were) are the key to telling because of and due to apart. However, neither use is interchangeable with due to. The boys argued because one of them broke the toy.īoth because and because of can elaborate on the verb on the sentences.Shana rescheduled her meeting because there was a conflict in her calendar.I walked home because the bus was late.If the prepositional phrases were complete clauses with their own verbs, you would just use because and not because of: These sentences explain why the actions are occurring with an adverbial prepositional phrase ( because of + noun). The boys argued because of the broken toy.Shana rescheduled her meeting because of a calendar conflict.I walked home because of the new bus schedule.Here are the same sentences with because of instead of - ly words. (The adverb angrily modifies the verb argued.)Īdverbial prepositional phrases with because of modify verbs in the exact same way. (The adverb quickly modifies the verb rescheduled.) Shana quickly rescheduled her meeting.(The adverb happily modifies the verb walked.) You can usually identify adverbs when they end in - ly. It works as an adverbial prepositional phrase when used with other words to modify a verb. However, when combined with of, it becomes a preposition. The word because is a subordinating conjunction.

Due to due from meaning