How does "Because of" introduce an effect?

[Stephanie Oswalt]

We recently received the following question from a student. An instructor will respond below. Thanks!

I recently bought your flashcards and for the causal indicators it says that the phrase "because of" introduces an effect. I just need a clarification on how that is possible. For example, "She got a bad grade because of her bad professor" The cause was the bad professor, and the effect is that she got a bad grade. Then how is "Because of" introducing an effect?

[Adam Tyson]

"Because of", with no other context, is typically indicating a cause:

"X happens because of Y" tells us that Y is a cause and X is the effect

"Because of A, B occurs" tells us that A is a cause and B is the effect

Your example with the professor is spot on - you've got it.

There can be some ambiguity, however, based on the construction of the sentence:

"We know it rained this morning because of the water on the driveway this afternoon" tells us that rain caused the water, and "because of" here is tied to the effect. This construction is pretty unusual, but possible.

Sorry if we caused some confusion - that was not our intended effect!