When words help you bring home the bacon, even a comma can stop you dead in your tracks and make you ask, “Why?” In a world where current media trends show that the population doesn’t especially mind bad grammar or incorrect phrasing, you’d think such a halt and question would be unnecessary. But, I still bet that the average reader, who in between their morning coffee and workload reads a gossip column just for a brain break, still spies the stray grammatical mistake and thinks, “What the—?”

 So today, question that paused the cosmos in the lives of my fellow grammarians was the difference between “because” and “as.” What makes them different? When is it ok to use “because” over “an”? Is there a hard and fast rule.

Before you yawn, put yourself in our shoes. Life is rocking along like a boat on a pond, and suddenly, it hits the shore. How did that happen? You weren’t aiming for the beach. You were content to float in this perfect circle of liquid calm, but now the ground has risen up and demanded that you take notice.

AP stylebooks and Chicago manuals burst into our hands, as if summoned by the power of Greyskull (Yes. I just did that.) Internet sites were searched. Credible websites consulted, but all we could find was what was unacceptable: “as is a synonym of because.”

Curses English ambiguity!

 It was almost as heartening an answer to the time my fellow grammarians and I paused on “effectual” and “effective.” Was there a difference? No. Then why would the English language use/have/need two derivatives of the same adjective?! It makes the mind implode.

Anyhoo, here’s a link that explains the whole mystery behind “as” and “because” because I care and so should you. But, here’s a warning–the site hails from the UK, and we all know that the Brits and Americans tend to disagree on what is effectively effectual grammar. (I mean effective.) :-)