用英语表示“由于”的若干方法

■本站特约作者  罗  芳

because of, due to, thanks to, owing to, as a result of, on account of等都可以用来表示原因，都表示“由于”的意思,但其用法却各有不同。下面就其用法分述如下：

■because of

because of意为“因为，由于”，普通用语，比其他短语更口语化,强调因果关系；构成的短语在句子中通常作状语，一般不作表语用；后面可接名词、代词、分词或what引导的名词性从句等。如：

He is likely to miss the US Open because of his back injury. 他因为背部有伤可能缺席美国公开赛。（置于句后作状语）

Because of my bad leg ,I couldn’t walk so fast as the others. 由于我的腿坏了，我不能像其他人走得那么快。（置于句首作状语，但用逗号与其他部分分开）

Because of his wife’s being there, I said nothing about it. 因为他妻子在场，我对此事只字未提。(接-ing分词短语)

He realized that she was crying because of what he had said. 他意识到她在哭是因为他说的那些话。(接what从句)

■due to

due to表示“由于，因……造成”，强调造成后果的原因，在句中作表语、状语和定语。作表语和状语时与owing to同义。但规范英语仅将 due to 用于动词be之后作表语。作状语时，不用于句首，一般不与其他成分隔开。如：

This accident was due to（owing to）his careless driving．这次车祸是由于他开车疏忽大意造成的。（作表语）

Accidents due to driving at high speed were very common that weekend. 在那个周末因高速驾驶造成的交通事故很多。（作定语）

He arrived late due to（owing to）the storm．由于暴风雨他来晚了。（作状语）

注意：due to除可表示原因外，还有“应给于，应属于”的意思。

Our grateful thanks are due to you. 向你表示我们衷心的感谢。

Respect is due to older people. 年长者应受到尊重。

■on account of

on account of 当“因为”讲，后面常接名词。on account of与because of，owing to同义，但语气较为正式。可作状语、表语，不作定语。如：

He could not come on account of his illness．他因病不能前来。

We delayed our departure on account of the bad weather. 由于天气不好，我们将起程时间推迟了。

That was on account of lack of exercise．那是由于缺乏锻炼。

注意：

on my/your account  为了你/我的缘故

on this/that account  由于这个/那个缘故

On this account, we should be cautious. 因为这个缘故我们应该谨慎。

He is angry on that account. 由于那个缘故他生气了。

She left her hometown on his account. 她是为了他才离开家乡的。

■owing to

owing to 与because of一样引出介词短语，也强调因果关系，在句中作状语, 作状语时, 习惯上用逗号和句子其他部分分开。

注意：作状语时修饰整个句子，可在句首或句末，用逗号隔开。owing to 除作状语外，也可作表语，但because of 不作表语。

They decided to cancel the flight，owing to the storm．由于这场暴风雨，他们决定取消这个航班。（作状语）

Owing to his careless driving, we had a bad accident. 由于他驾驶疏忽，我们发生了次严重车祸。（作状语）

His death was owing to an accident．他死于一场事故。（作表语）

注意：owe vt. 欠(债等); 把……归功于(to); 感激; 感恩。

I owe him ten dollars. 我欠他10美元。

He owes his success to his hard work. 他认为自己取得成功是辛勤劳动的结果。

I owe you for your help. 我感谢你的帮助。