I think

[Seiichi Myoga]

Hi,

Do you think (1) works?

(1) Because the ground is wet, I think it has rained.
(=The reason I think it has rained is that the ground is wet.)

Thank you in advance
Seiichi MYOGA

(2) is not acceptable. I'm wondering if we can fix it by using "I think."

(2) *Because the ground is wet, it has rained.

[Cerberus™]

This is difficult to explain. When you say "it has been raining", it could have been raining up to now, or including now. It just means that there has been a continuous period of rain not long ago. When you say "it has rained", you say that it has rained at (at least) one point in the past, and it is probably not raining now. You could use either one depending on the circumstances, but "it has been raining" is by far more common.

2. works only if you add "I think": "the ground is wet" cannot be the cause of "it has rained"; it is rather the other way around. "The ground is wet" can be the reason of "I think...".

[Seiichi Myoga]

Dear Cerberus™,

I appreciate your help and comments.

Can I ask a follow-up question?

I think (3) and (4) are both acceptable (meaning that the "because" clause in Speaker B in (3) works as the response to the question of Speaker A, and the sentence (4) sounds natural).

(3) A: Why do you say that it has rained?
B: Because the ground is wet.
(4) I know that it has rained, because the ground is wet.

Do you agree?

Seiichi MYOGA

We learn the "because" of (i) means the speaker's inference.

(i) It has rained(,) because the ground is wet. (inference)
cf. Because it has rained, the ground is wet. (causative/causal)

I think part of the reason for this is that we can say, "Just because the ground is wet, it doesn't mean it has rained." ("Just because X(, it) doesn't mean Y" is used to say that Y can't be inferred from X.)

What confuses me is whether (i) belongs to the same usage as (ii). (To be more exact, I don't know for sure whether different people say different things about the definition of "inference" or not.)

Quirk et al. say (ii) expresses "the speaker's inference of a connection" between reason and consequence.

(ii) She watered the flowers because they were dry. (Quirk et al. 1985:1104)

Let me ask about (ii) independently. I have something to ask.