Expressing Reason: Due To / Owing To / Because Of

The flight was delayed due to bad weather.

Notice

  • The flight was delayed due to bad weather.
  • Owing to a technical fault, the show was postponed.
  • She missed the meeting because of traffic.
  • Due to high demand, tickets sold out within minutes.

Rule

Due to, owing to, and because of are all followed by a noun phrase (not a full clause) and mean ‘as a result of’. They are more formal alternatives to ‘because’. ‘Due to’ traditionally follows a form of ‘be’ in strict formal style, but is now widely accepted at the start of a sentence too, like ‘owing to’ and ‘because of’.

Practice

  1. Complete: ‘_____ the storm, all flights were cancelled.’ (due to)
    Answer: Due to
  2. Rewrite formally: ‘The event was cancelled because it rained.’
    Answer: The event was cancelled due to rain. / The event was cancelled because of the rain.
  3. Correct the error: ‘Due to it rained, we stayed inside.’
    Answer: Due to the rain, we stayed inside. / Because it rained, we stayed inside.
  4. Combine: ‘There was a strike. The trains were cancelled.’
    Answer: The trains were cancelled due to a strike. / Owing to a strike, the trains were cancelled.

Connect

Practise using due to, owing to, and because of correctly.

Try Error Correction →

CEFR: Reading — understand formal explanations of cause in news and official texts.

Azizul Hakim
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