because beginning a sentence.“Because I could not stop for Death—/He kindly stopped for me”. So begins one of Emily Dickinson’s most well-known poems, and so falls another of the more arbitrary rules of usage, which states that you should not begin a sentence with because. As Dickinson’s poem attests, there are occasions when because is perfectly appropriate as the opening word of a sentence. In fact, sentences beginning with because are quite common in written English.
1
because in clauses that are the subject. A related rule states that you cannot use a clause beginning with because as the subject of a sentence, as in Just because he thinks it’s a good idea doesn’t mean it’s a good idea. This construction is perfectly acceptable, but it carries a colloquial flavor and you may want to save it for informal situations.
2
because after negated verbs. When because follows a negated verb phrase, it must be preceded by a comma when the because clause explains why the event did not occur. They didn’t want her on the committee, because she was so outspoken means roughly “Her outspokenness was their reason for not wanting her on the committee.” When there is no comma, the because clause is included in what is being negated. Thus They didn’t want her on the committee because she was so outspoken implies that they may in fact have wanted her on the committee but for some reason other than her outspokenness.
3
the reason is because. For a discussion of this frequently condemned phrase, see
redundancy under Style.
