Due to Vs Because of

My try:
In late 1997, the chambers inside the pyramid of the Pharaoh Menkaure at Giza were closed to visitors for cleaning and repairing due to moisture exhaled by tourists, which raised its humidity to such levels so that salt from the stone was crystallizing and fungus was growing in the walls.
A. due to moisture exhaled by tourists, which raised its humidity to such levels so that salt from the stone was crystallizing
B. due to moisture that tourists had exhaled, thereby raising its humidity to such levels that salt from the stone would crystallize
C. because tourists were exhaling moisture, which had raised the humidity within then to levels such that salt from the stone would crystallize
D. because of moisture that was exhaled by tourists raising the humidity within them to levels so high as to make the salt from the stone crystallize
E. because moisture exhaled by tourists had raised the humidity within them to such levels that salt from the stone was crystallizing

The way I understand it (cutting the flab...)
Chambers were closed for...(why?) BECAUSE high level of moisture had raised the humidity to a level that salt from the stone was crystallizing and fungus was growing in the walls.

EA:
1) Chambers were closed DUE TO... (were closed clause in the non underlined section...) DUE TO is wrong... has to be replaced by BECAUSE OF...
2) due to (-> BECAUSE OF) is followed by moisture {exhausted by... modifier} NOT logical. It must be followed by the reason why the chambers were closed... because "high levels of humidity..... that salt from the stone was crystallizing and fungus was growing in the walls"
3) Right choice must contain "crystallizing" In the clause "that salt from the stone was crystallizing and fungus was growing in the walls" to maintain the parallelism.

POE:
1)DUE TO scan: A and B are gone
2) Because of must be followed by the reason: C is gone
3) crystallizing/crystallize: Except A and E all violate this -> D is also gone

E is the correct answer.

GMATPrep

It seems likely that a number of astronomical phenomena, such as the formation of planetary nebulas, may be caused by the interaction where two stars orbit each other at close range.

A. may be caused by the interaction where two stars orbit each other
B. may be caused by the interaction between two stars that each orbit the other
C. are because of the interaction between two stars that orbit each other
D. are caused by the interaction of two stars where each is orbiting the other
E. are caused by the interaction of two stars orbiting each other

The way I understand it (cutting the flab...)
- It seems likely
- that a number of astronomical phenomena, {such as the formation AP}, are caused by the interaction in which two stars orbit each other at close range.

EA:
A possibility has been presented.
Lets take an example:
It is likely that something is true.
It is likely that something may be true.
In the above two sentences, second is wrong. Why? Because use of "may be" with likely already being said for the same purpose is redundant.

So, 1) may be MUST get replaced by ARE

2) 'may be caused by' is supposed to and is modifying "astronomical phenomena". So "Because of" cannot be used in its pace..."because of" might come in...(in that case following phrase has to be modifies accordingly)

3) Where can only refer to a physical place (country, place, city etc.) not to a situation
So, IN WHICH must be used

POE:
1) LIKELY (non-underlined)/MAY BE: A and B are gone
2) use of "because of": C is gone
3) use of "where": A and D are gone (A twice )

Left with E !
I am not going for seeing meaning of those answers I have already marked wrong!

Happy to be get corrected on my misunderstanding!

The following fundamental understanding should be enough to identify the correct usage:

"Due to" and "because of" both will ALWAYS be followed by noun because "to" and "of" are prepositions, and objects of prepositions will ALWAYS be noun.

The difference is not in what follows, but in their parts of speech and consequently the verb that is used alongwith these structures:

"Due to": Adjective - the verb can ONLY be "to be" (is/was /are/ were etc):
The stoppage was due to rain.
"Due to rain" is acting as an adjective for "stoppage". Compare with the following:
The bus is blue.

"Because of": Adverb - the verb can be any:
The game stopped because of rain.
"Because of rain" is acting as an adverb for the verb "stopped".

Note that in both cases the noun "rain" follows. (object of preposition "to" and "of").

A. due to moisture exhaled by tourists, which raised its humidity to such levels so that salt from the stone was crystallizing
B. due to moisture that tourists had exhaled, thereby raising its humidity to such levels that salt from the stone would crystallize
C. because tourists were exhaling moisture, which had raised the humidity within then to levels such that salt from the stone would crystallize
D. because of moisture that was exhaled by tourists raising the humidity within them to levels so high as to make the salt from the stone crystallize
E. because moisture exhaled by tourists had raised the humidity within them to such levels that salt from the stone was crystallizing


A. may be caused by the interaction where two stars orbit each other
B. may be caused by the interaction between two stars that each orbit the other
C. are because of the interaction between two stars that orbit each other
D. are caused by the interaction of two stars where each is orbiting the other
E. are caused by the interaction of two stars orbiting each other - modifying stars

In late 1997, the chambers inside the pyramid of the Pharaoh Menkaure at Giza were closed to visitors for cleaning and repairing due to moisture exhaled by tourists, which raised its humidity to such levels so that salt from the stone was crystallizing and fungus was growing in the walls.

Meaning -- Moisture inside the chambers increased so high that salt xxxxx and hence they are closed for cleaning and repair.

Error Analysis --

C1 - Chambers - plural sub ; were closed ( plural verb )
C2- Due to moisture exhaled by tourists (no sub ; no verb; exhaled is modifier )
C3 Which raised ( verb ) correctly modifies 'moisture' because you can't move by tourists anywhere.

C1 - perfect
C2 - due to modifying why it is closed ( action )
C3 - 'it' is referring to Chambers - wrong
Crystallizing and growing - parallel ( needed )

A. due to moisture exhaled by tourists, which raised its humidity to such levels so that salt from the stone was crystallizing - BECAUSE OF PRONOUN ERROR incorrect
B. due to moisture that tourists had exhaled, thereby raising its humidity to such levels that salt from the stone would crystallize - Pronoun error and MEANING ISSUE - it says reparing and closing ; moisture exhaled - everything resulted in humidity increase. Also parallelism error
C. because tourists were exhaling moisture, which had raised the humidity within them to levels such that salt from the stone would crystallize - were exhaling that means it exhaling and repair both happening at the same time.
D. because of moisture that was exhaled by tourists raising the humidity within them to levels so high as to make the salt from the stone crystallize - Tourist can't raise humidity- meaning error.
E. because moisture exhaled by tourists had raised the humidity within them to such levels that salt from the stone was crystallizing - Perfect

Note WHICH is correct in the above sentence. It correctly modifies Moisture.


Option E.

I appreciate the article by E-gmat .

In late 1997, the chambers inside the pyramid of the Pharaoh Menkaure at Giza were closed to visitors for cleaning and repairing due to moisture exhaled by tourists, which raised its humidity to such levels so that salt from the stone was crystallizing and fungus was growing in the walls.

A. due to moisture exhaled by tourists, which raised its humidity to such levels so that salt from the stone was crystallizing
"Due to" only modifies NOUN, here it is action "Chambers were closed".
B. due to moisture that tourists had exhaled, thereby raising its humidity to such levels that salt from the stone would crystallize
"Due to" only modifies NOUN, here it is action "Chambers were closed".
C. because tourists were exhaling moisture, which had raised the humidity within them to levels such that salt from the stone would crystallize
Although it uses progressive past tense, it would have been correct unless "would" was used as "was. "Which" is used properly referring to moisture.Presence of two actions (1). Chambers were closed "A later event" (2). "Had raised humidity" a past event due to which chambers were closed.
D. because of moisture that was exhaled by tourists raising the humidity within them to levels so high as to make the salt from the stone crystallize
Verbing (Raising) without a "Comma" modifies a immediate noun(a concept by E-GMat only) Incorrect
E. because moisture exhaled by tourists had raised the humidity within them to such levels that salt from the stone was crystallizing
Correct Indeed !!!!



GMATPrep

It seems likely that a number of astronomical phenomena, such as the formation of planetary nebulas, may be caused by the interaction where two stars orbit each other at close range.

A. may be caused by the interaction where two stars orbit each other
B. may be caused by the interaction between two stars that each orbit the other
C. are because of the interaction between two stars that orbit each other
D. are caused by the interaction of two stars where each is orbiting the other
E. are caused by the interaction of two stars orbiting each other
Correct without any doubts !!!


Rgds.
saurabh

HI egmat,
Could you please come up with OA and your excellent explanation and analysis..?

Consider the option,
E. because moisture exhaled by tourists had raised the humidity within them to such levels that salt from the stone was crystallizing

In the above clause, moisture is the subject, and exhaled is a verb-ed modifier (not a verb). The actual verb corresponding to the subject is had raised.

'exhaled by tourists' is a verbal modifier, modifying the subject 'moisture'.

So, what had raised the humidity within the chambers? Moisture.

Subject and verb pair are perfectly agreeing with each other and also with the main clause.

The sentence can be re-written as follows (striking out the modifiers, prepositional phrases etc) just to see the subject-verb agreement and pronoun agreement.

In late 1997,the chambers inside the pyramid of the Pharaoh Menkaure at Giza were closed to visitors for cleaning and repairing because moisture exhaled by tourists had raised the humidity within them to such levels that salt from the stone was crystallizing and fungus was growing in the walls.

As you see, 'them' has a clear antecedent - 'chambers'

They all are!

Consider the following:

"Because of Tim's herniated disk, his children refuse to participate in family wrestling tournaments."

The opening modifier "because of Tim's herniated disk" can be said to modify the entire ensuing clause, or the main verb, "refuse," of that clause. Both are logical interpretations. Why did the kids "refuse?" Because of Tim's injury. Why did "his children refuse to participate in his family wrestling tournaments?" Again, because of the injury. Either interpretation makes perfect sense.

It's also worth noting that "of" is a preposition, and prepositions always introduce a noun. So the modifying phrase "because of x" must itself contain a noun or noun phrase. In this case, "Tim's herniated disk" is the noun in that phrase.

To summarize: the phrase "because of x" must contain a noun within it, but the entire phrase can be said to modify either an entire clause or the main verb of the clause.

I hope that clears things up!

here is another method that I use
suppose you have a sentence structure, e.g., XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX because of/due to YYYYYYYYYYYYY
now, if XXXXXXXXXXX can stand as a clause (complete sentence) on itself then because of is the correct usage; otherwise, if XXXXXXXXXXX is just a noun phrase then due to is the correct usage.

Hi Shraddha,

This is a question which buzzed me a lott because i was so confident in replacing 'due to' with 'caused by'.

Originally developed by ancient Hawaiians, surfing appeals to people due to the sport’s unusual confluence of adrenaline, skill, and high paced maneuvering, an unpredictable backdrop that is, by turns, graceful and serene,violent and formidable, and the camaraderie that often develops among people in their common quest to conquer nature.

A• surfing appeals to people due to the sport’s unusual confluence of adrenaline, skill, and high paced maneuvering,
an unpredictable backdrop that is, by turns, graceful and serene, violent and formidable, and the camaraderie that
often develops
B• surfing’s appeal is its unusual confluence of adrenaline, skill, and high paced maneuvering, an unpredictable
backdrop that is, by turns, graceful and serene, violent and formidable, and the camaraderie that often develops
C• surfing’s appeal to people is due to the sport’s unusual confluence of adrenaline, skill, and high paced maneuvering,an unpredictable backdrop that is, by turns, graceful and serene, violent and formidable, and developing camaraderie
D• surfing appeals to people due to the sport’s unusual confluence of adrenaline, skill, and high paced maneuvering,a backdrop that is unpredictable and that is, by turns, gracefully and serenely violent and formidable, and thecamaraderie that often develops
E• surfing appeals to people due to their unusual confluence of adrenaline, skill, and high paced maneuvering, an unpredictable backdrop that is, by turns, graceful and serene, violent and formidable, and the camaraderie that
often develops

Source: Official Guide

originally-developed-by-ancient-hawaiians-surfing-appeals-102734.html

For some reason it violates the rule. Would you please like to comment? A lot of time I try to eliminate answers based on these decision points but end up choosing the wrong option. It frustrates me a lot and I can't seem to get accuracy in SC. Please help!

I have asked the same doubts. I guess modifier error is far more glaring than due to vs because of issue.
originally-developed-by-ancient-hawaiians-surfing-appeals-102734.html#p1393602

Hi Shradhha,
Any update on this ?

OA is E for both the qs. I think.

Please share your thoughts.Appreciate your reply.

Hi ,

Seems this can't be applied to the gmat prep question I have attached.

economy’s continued strength does act like a noun phrase , yet the correct answer has A as the answer.

Please help.

Regards,
Sach

Hi Shraddha, great initiative and excellent posts. It helps me a lot. So a big thank you to your team.

Gmatclub Grammar book :

NOTE: The phrase "because of" can also be expressed with the phrase "due to".

It is confirmed that this statement is not applicable.

Hi EGMAT,

Please give explanation for

It seems likely that a number of astronomical phenomena, such as the formation of planetary nebulas, may be caused by the interaction where two stars orbit each other at close range.

A. may be caused by the interaction where two stars orbit each other
B. may be caused by the interaction between two stars that each orbit the other
C. are because of the interaction between two stars that orbit each other
D. are caused by the interaction of two stars where each is orbiting the other
E. are caused by the interaction of two stars orbiting each other

Also, please share few examples of caused by cases... does the noun immediately need to follow "due to" or there can be distance.

please share simple as well as complex examples to through some more light on this topic.

thanks for the great explanation

OG12#6

In late 1997, the chambers inside the pyramid of the Pharaoh Menkaure at Giza were closed to visitors for cleaning and repairing due to moisture exhaled by tourists, which raised its humidity to such levels so that salt from the stone was crystallizing and fungus was growing in the walls.

A. due to moisture exhaled by tourists, which raised its humidity to such levels so that salt from the stone was crystallizing
B. due to moisture that tourists had exhaled, thereby raising its humidity to such levels that salt from the stone would crystallize
C. because tourists were exhaling moisture, which had raised the humidity within then to levels such that salt from the stone would crystallize
D. because of moisture that was exhaled by tourists raising the humidity within them to levels so high as to make the salt from the stone crystallize
E. because moisture exhaled by tourists had raised the humidity within them to such levels that salt from the stone was crystallizing


e-GMAT experts! you guys are awesome. Thanks for such nice article. I have always been confused how to choose between "due to" and "because of", but after reading this article I am confident that I am in a better position to answer the questions related to this concept.

Now coming to my question: As explained in posts above "choice E" is the best answer. However, use of "them" in this sentence always perplexes me. I think "them" is ambiguous here as it can refer to both tourists and chambers. I know as per context of sentence only chambers make sense, however, I am not certain whether such use is permitted in GMAT.....