{"id":1156,"date":"2016-01-27T08:53:03","date_gmt":"2016-01-27T08:53:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/superior-english.com\/?p=1156"},"modified":"2016-01-27T08:53:15","modified_gmt":"2016-01-27T08:53:15","slug":"because-of-the-fact-that","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/superior-english.com\/en\/2016\/01\/27\/because-of-the-fact-that\/","title":{"rendered":"„Because of the fact that“"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201eI have always envied modern homes in tropical climates because of the fact they can literally open to the outside almost all year long.\u201c<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

I read that line in an online home design magazine a few days ago. Can you spot the problem? We\u2019ll leave the controvertial use of the word literally <\/em>for another post.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Because of the fact that <\/span>\/ due to the fact that<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

This one goes back to our friends Strunk & White. There\u2019s no getting around the fact that<\/u><\/em> this particular phrase is widely used in spoken English. However, this is a phrase we should take pains to avoid in writing. Why? To answer that question, let\u2019s start by restructuring the example sentence:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201eI have always envied modern homes in tropical climates because they can <\/strong>open to the outside almost all year long.\u201c<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Note that the content\u00a0is the same. So what was „the fact that“ doing there in the first place? Answer: taking up space. When it comes to these three little words, there is almost always a simpler, more elegant alternative. Less is more: if you don\u2019t need it, delete it!<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201eI have always envied modern homes in tropical climates because of the fact they can literally open to the outside almost all year long.\u201c \u00a0 I read that line in an online home design magazine a few days ago. Can you spot the problem? We\u2019ll leave the controvertial use of the word literally for another … Continue reading „Because of the fact that“<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[273],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","no-featured-image"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t