Selection of Reason Conjunctions in English According to Various Situations for Communication:Aiming Towards English Education Based on the Register Perspective

Abstract

This study explores the appropriate use of English reason conjunctions: because, as, since, and for. Japanese high school learners of English often overuse ‘because’ to express reasons in their essays, which often causes inappropriateness in context. Knowing the use of conjunctions according to registers might help students improve logicality in writings. Besides analysis on the frequency of each conjunction in registers, correspondence analysis was performed on sixteen registers from the CORE corpus to clarify how native speakers select conjunctions. Consequently, the obtained results are: (a) Registers affect the frequency of reason conjunctions, (b) ‘Because’ is mostly used for individual opinions, ‘as’and ‘since’ are mostly for explanations, and ‘for’ is the least frequent and rhetorical in use, and (c) Language use may differ depending on the context of reason: subjective or objective.