THE ADVERBIAL CLAUSE OF CAUSE
Function.—In our daily experience we are continually meeting new conditions, discovering new truths. It is human nature to be curious as to the causes of these truths and conditions, hence there is no question perhaps which is asked oftener than the query of the scientist, the persistent question of the child, why? So common is this question that in our speech we anticipate its coming and answer it before it is asked. When we make statements of facts or of our opinions, we seem to foresee that we shall be asked why? or how do you know?—so along with our principal statement we give a cause or reason for it.
Sometimes we are able to tell cause or reason by means of a phrase, as, He trembled from fright, The wind must be blowing by the sound. But the usual way is by means of the subordinate proposition; thus, “Peter the Great caused his heir to be tried and sentenced to death, because he was a sot, a liar, and a fool.”—Lord.
What the Causal Clause denotes.—1. It may denote the natural or physical cause of some physical effect either in nature or in man; as, “Journeys by individuals could not be undertaken without much risk, for there was scarcely a moor or a forest that had not its highwaymen.”—Draper.
This clause answers the question why? One variety of it, often called a clause of motive, denotes something that determines man’s choice, something that leads him to pursue a line of action; as, “He discouraged commerce, not because it was in itself demoralizing, but because it brought the Jews too much in contact with corrupt nations.”—Lord.
A clause of motive answers the question why? or what made him do it? It can be used only to modify a statement about a human being or perhaps one of the higher animals—something that can act from a motive.
2. The causal clause may denote the cause of our knowledge of a fact, the evidence from which we draw a conclusion, but not the cause of the fact itself; as, “The other bird probably grew to maturity, as it disappeared from the vicinity with its parents after some days.”—Burroughs. This clause, sometimes called a clause of reason, answers the question how do you know? or what makes you say so?
Notice that all these causal clauses denote something that was true or in operation before what is in the principal proposition was true or in operation. In other words, the causal clause denotes the source from which something proceeds; the outcome or result is found stated in the principal proposition.
Connectives.—The commonest connective of the causal clause is the subordinating conjunction because, but we often find for, as, or since used in its place. Sometimes that is used; as, “And we wept that one so lovely should have a life so brief.”—Bryant. When for or because introduces a clause, we know that the clause is causal, but as, since, and that may introduce clauses used in other relations, so the nature of the clause in question must be determined by its meaning.
There are several phrases that may be used as conjunctions to introduce causal clauses. These are seeing that, now that, considering that, in that, inasmuch as, forasmuch as. These phrases should be considered as one word, having the function of the word because.