"Since" vs "Because"

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vittalgmat: Legendary Member; Posts: 621; Joined: Wed Apr 09, 2008 7:13 pmFollowed by: 4 members; Thanked: 33 times

by vittalgmat » Sun Nov 30, 2008 2:54 am

Hi Folks,
Can some one explain the difference between "Since" and "Because".
I have noticed that "since" is used in lieu of "because" by many of us. I think
"since" should be used only to signify an occurance of an event with respect to time. Eg. Since last night, I am not well.

What do these two words mean in the GMAT context?

Pls share your thoughts

thanks
-Vittal

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Sentence Correction | Sun Nov 30, 2008 2:54 am

vivek.kapoor83: Legendary Member; Posts: 833; Joined: Mon Aug 04, 2008 1:56 am; Thanked: 13 times

by vivek.kapoor83 » Mon Dec 01, 2008 10:17 am

this is the prefrence order for gmat acc to Test magic

being < since < because

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Stacey Koprince: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 2228; Joined: Wed Dec 27, 2006 3:28 pmFollowed by: 694 members; Location: Montreal, Canada; Thanked: 639 times; GMAT Score:780

by Stacey Koprince » Wed Dec 03, 2008 1:39 pm

I received a PM asking me to respond.

Yes, we often use "since" and "because" almost interchangeably nowadays. And, yes, this is wrong on the GMAT.

As you noted, "since" is specifically used as an indication of time. "Since 1996, the Internet has grown from X users to Y users."

"Because she was hungry, she ate all the pie."

It's not okay to say "Since she was hungry..." (at least, not on the GMAT). So if you see a split between "since" and "because" and it appears that they could both work, use "because." (You probably wouldn't make the mistake in the other direction - "Because 1996, the Internet has grown...")

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VodkaBoy: Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts; Posts: 22; Joined: Mon Aug 25, 2008 10:35 am

by VodkaBoy » Wed Dec 03, 2008 1:46 pm

Vittalgmat - thanks for the question.
vivek.kapoor83 and Stacey - thanks for the answers! I'll keep this in mind next time.

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goelmohit2002: Legendary Member; Posts: 1799; Joined: Wed Dec 24, 2008 3:03 amFollowed by: 2 members; Thanked: 36 times

by goelmohit2002 » Tue Oct 06, 2009 10:10 am

Stacey Koprince wrote:I received a PM asking me to respond.

Yes, we often use "since" and "because" almost interchangeably nowadays. And, yes, this is wrong on the GMAT.

As you noted, "since" is specifically used as an indication of time. "Since 1996, the Internet has grown from X users to Y users."

"Because she was hungry, she ate all the pie."

It's not okay to say "Since she was hungry..." (at least, not on the GMAT). So if you see a split between "since" and "because" and it appears that they could both work, use "because." (You probably wouldn't make the mistake in the other direction - "Because 1996, the Internet has grown...")

Hi Stacey,

Either I am misinterpreting you or is missing something here...

But it seems this rule is not followed in GMAT

Please see the link below:
https://www.manhattangmat.com/forums/pro ... t5867.html

Kindly tell what I am missing here ?

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Stacey Koprince: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 2228; Joined: Wed Dec 27, 2006 3:28 pmFollowed by: 694 members; Location: Montreal, Canada; Thanked: 639 times; GMAT Score:780

by Stacey Koprince » Mon Oct 26, 2009 10:14 am

Interesting! I'd love confirmation that this one really did come from GMATPrep - I did some searching, but couldn't find any confirmation of the source. (People sometimes post things on our site under the GMATPrep folder when they don't know the source because they know we won't answer it if they don't cite the source...)

If you have seen this yourself in GMATPrep, please let me know!

This question in the link seems to be testing something slightly different (not just a straight "because vs. since" set-up). It's testing a particular idiom:

X was easy, because of A, B, and C.
X was easy, <since OR because> A, B, and C <caused something else to happen>.

Options A, B, and C don't do one of the above correctly, so we're stuck with D or E (and, therefore, stuck with "since").

If this is really GMATPrep, I'd say that they're loosening their restriction on "since" a bit, bringing it up to modern usage / times. Definitely worth knowing - if that's what's happening, then it's probably the case that they prefer "because" to "since" as long as everything else is correct, but we should choose "since" if the "because" options are all incorrect for some reason.

And, if this is a GMATPrep question, then I highly doubt they'll ever make you choose strictly between since and because (they don't here) - the issue is the construction of the rest of the sentence.

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JBL: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 3; Joined: Sun Sep 20, 2009 4:53 am

by JBL » Sat Oct 31, 2009 9:58 am

Hello Stacey,
I would like to confirm that this question did show up on the GMATPrep exam. I did get this question myself. Pretty challenging question...upper 700+ would you say?

quote="Stacey Koprince"]Interesting! I'd love confirmation that this one really did come from GMATPrep - I did some searching, but couldn't find any confirmation of the source. (People sometimes post things on our site under the GMATPrep folder when they don't know the source because they know we won't answer it if they don't cite the source...)

If you have seen this yourself in GMATPrep, please let me know!

This question in the link seems to be testing something slightly different (not just a straight "because vs. since" set-up). It's testing a particular idiom:

X was easy, because of A, B, and C.
X was easy, <since OR because> A, B, and C <caused something else to happen>.

Options A, B, and C don't do one of the above correctly, so we're stuck with D or E (and, therefore, stuck with "since").

If this is really GMATPrep, I'd say that they're loosening their restriction on "since" a bit, bringing it up to modern usage / times. Definitely worth knowing - if that's what's happening, then it's probably the case that they prefer "because" to "since" as long as everything else is correct, but we should choose "since" if the "because" options are all incorrect for some reason.

And, if this is a GMATPrep question, then I highly doubt they'll ever make you choose strictly between since and because (they don't here) - the issue is the construction of the rest of the sentence.[/quote]

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jhakaas: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 1; Joined: Mon Mar 29, 2010 5:02 pm

by jhakaas » Mon Mar 29, 2010 5:04 pm

yes, thats a GMAT Prep question for sure.

they are testing "Since v/s Because of" and not "because".

so in the context of this sentence "since" wins.

jhakaas

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havok: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 94; Joined: Tue Jun 30, 2009 4:51 pmFollowed by: 7 members; Thanked: 24 times; GMAT Score:750

by havok » Tue Apr 26, 2011 8:14 pm

I am very interested in this topic as well. The question chooses "since" after a comma as opposed to "because" after the comma.

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Ryandmitri: Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts; Posts: 29; Joined: Sun Jan 16, 2011 10:45 pm

by Ryandmitri » Wed Apr 27, 2011 12:32 am

Referring to the GMAT Prep question, my approach was as follows :

There is a 2:3 split with option A and D using " reach for" instead of " reach of". So we rule out A and D. I ruled out C because of the use of " owing".

B would have been correct if not for the use of " and" before " putting". This option has " because of" to start with therefore I feel that the use of putting instead of put is correct. But the use of and rules this option out.

Remaining is E (correct answer)

Is my reasoning correct?

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aspirant2011: Legendary Member; Posts: 1574; Joined: Fri Jan 28, 2011 2:52 amFollowed by: 13 members; Thanked: 88 times

by aspirant2011 » Wed Apr 27, 2011 10:05 am

i feel that the answer E is wrong because "since" should be followed by a verb form of has/have........and in option E usage of verb form of has/have is not there

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e-GMAT: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 645; Joined: Mon Jul 26, 2010 12:42 pmFollowed by: 227 members; Location: US; Thanked: 527 times

by e-GMAT » Wed Apr 27, 2011 10:33 am

@aspirant2011, I think you may be getting confused between 2 different usages of "since"-
1: since to express timing - this is when it should be followed by present perfect tense:
Since the launch of new website, we have seen rapid increase in the subscriptions.

2: Since to express reasoning - this is when there is no restriction on the verb tense.
Since he does not follow a balanced diet, even extensive exercise program does not help in weight reduction.

So you need to understand the intended meaning of the sentence to see whether "since" is used to express timing related meaning or reasoning and then use the rules governing verb tense accordingly.

In the light of above, ask yourself - what is the usage of "since" in the sentence in question.

Hope this helps.

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Stendulkar: Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts; Posts: 26; Joined: Wed Dec 22, 2010 12:53 am; Thanked: 1 times

by Stendulkar » Wed Apr 27, 2011 10:44 am

@e-gmat....is my reasoning correct?? My post is under the name ryandmitri...thanks...

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