the temporal subordinator "since"

[Arnold M. Zwicky]

On Oct 27, 2006, at 11:27 AM, Charlie Doyle wrote:

> It's my impression that, in student writing (and even writing by
> academicians), both "because" and logical "since" are being
> supplanted by logical "as"

i have no idea whether it's actually spreading; these things are
*very* hard to gauge, as i note here every few days.

> --which is even more vigorously stigmatized in the handbooks, isn't
> it?

see the survey in MWDEU, the first subentry, on causal "as".  MWDEU
notes that "as" is much less frequent than "because" or "since" (the
Longman grammar suggests this too), but judges it to be "a standard
and acceptable alternative to" them.

>   "As," like "since," can be either temporal or logical in its
> reference (so ambiguity may occur, occasionally).

says MWDEU: "Actually, cases where causal _as_ is clearly ambiguous
are hard to find; the objection seems somewhat flimsy."

usage prescriptions based on ambiguity avoidance are, i think, always
hopeless.  *potential* ambiguity is everywhere; it seems to be a
central feature of language, in fact.  but *practical* or *effective*
ambiguity in context is not very common.

arnold

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