There’s been a bit of buzz around because being the new preposition. Sentence first addressed it as well. I thought I might offer yet another.
There are many types of ellipses in English:
- I like apples and [I like] oranges.
- I went home last night and [I] called my cousin.
- Dad will help and Mom will [help] too.
So an ellipsis can be an omission of a noun (subject), verb, or noun and a verb when restating them is not necessary. But can we do the same with prepositions?
Because usually functions as either…
- Subordinating conjunction that introduces a subordinating clause: I eat vegetables because I want to stay healthy.
- Before a prepositional phrase: Because of your tardiness, you have been removed from class.
Is it possible to have a “prepositional ellipsis”?
- I’m late because [of] YouTube.
- You’re reading this because [of my] procrastination.
- But Iowa still wants to sell eggs to California, because [of] money.
- …because [of] logic.
What do you think? Do we have a prepositional because or a prepositional ellipsis … or something else?