due to, because of, thanks to?

[vaok]

It is acknowledged that traffice accident are largely_____ drivers' carelessness.

A. because of B. due to C. thanks to

which is proper,why? thanks!

[Molly]

"Largely due to" is the common expression.

[vaok]

that's all?

[Molly]

Yes.

[nessie]

Besides, as far as I know, "due to" is used when you refer to something as a bad cause of some certain problem. "because of" is more general and "thanks to" is used to refer to a good cause of something

Just my 2 cents
Nessie

[lost_soul]

Hi, Nessie

I think you're a bit off the mark. The reason why "due to" is right is that it is the only choice that collocates with "to be".
I believe you cannot say "to be thanks to" or "to be because of".
But you can say "to be due to". Or even "to be due" (like my report is due tomorrow)

[vaok]

That is because of the complexity. Isn't it right? Lost soul? thanks.

[Molly]

[nessie]

Thanks for your idea, Molly and Lost soul

Actually, I'm not really sure whether my idea about the use of "due to", "thanks to" and "because of" that I stated above is right or not. It's just something my teacher once taught me so as to distinguish between "due to" and "because of" (in multiple choice questions)

Hi Lost soul, here are some examples of "is because of" that I've found on the BNC :
http://sara.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/saraWeb?qy=is+because+of

and here are some examples of "is thanks to" (also from the BNC):
http://sara.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/saraWeb?qy=is+thanks+to

[vaok]

so what on earth are the differences, friends?

[nessie]

I have no idea, vaok. I just stated what my (non-native) teacher used to teach me. To be sure about this matter, I think we must wait for some native speakers' ideas

Cheers,
Nessie

[Alan]

Hi Nessie,

I'm going to get on my hobby horse again and issue a word of warning, a caveat, a bit of advice. Don't take anything in the bnc or google or doodle dolly's mixture as adding authenticity to a word or phrase. They merely report what people have written and said. It's better to listen to broadcasts of English, read books in English and see/hear these words/phrases in context and then you can make a judgement. I bet if you popped 'I dunno' in BNC, you'd come up with a bucket load of examples of how Tom, Whoever and Harry used them but I wouldn't recommend the use of the expression.

Alan
_________________
English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story A day in the life of a stately home owner

[Yankee]

I'm not quite sure what to make of this:
BNC search results for "I dunno"

Nessie, I would say that your teacher's advice was not too bad as an extremely general guideline or tendency. However, it should definitely NOT be viewed as an absolute rule.

Ms Google and the BNC can be handy tools. However, as is the case with many tools, you need to learn how to use them well.
.
_________________
Amy
.
ESL teacher, translator, and a native speaker of American English

[Yankee]

[Molly]