Dear Harley1980 Thanks for your helpful explanation.May I add some texts additionally to be more clear about this issue arose by smartguy595!

"Because" and "due to", by themselves, ARE NOT modifiers. (If you understand that a ""modifier"" is an additional description that explains or describes something, then you'll already know this -- it's clear that these words by themselves can't describe anything.)

"""Because xxxxx"", where xxxxx is a sentence, is a single modifier.

""Because of xxxxx"", where xxxxx is a noun (possibly with some modifiers of its own), is a single modifier.

""Due to xxxxx"", where xxxxx is a noun (possibly with some modifiers of its own), is a single modifier.

"Modifiers describe things. That's their function -- to give you extra information about something.
If you know this, then it's obvious that ""because"" and ""due to"", by themselves, are not modifiers -- they don't give any information about anything!"

We can say,
because of the economy’s continued strength, analysts have been predicting for weeks that the target will be raised again in November. .......>Here the highlighted portion actually describes things. It gives information ,similar to "Because a truck flipped over" and "due to the fall"

IMO,It feels right to say"due to the economy’s continued strength",we can consider other issues for our PoE. So,we have to consider "due to the economy’s continued strength" for its relationship to the rest of the sentence


D. Since February, the Federal Reserve has raised its short-term interest rate target five times, and due to the economy’s continued strength, analysts have been predicting for weeks that the target be raised again in November. ..........>Use of subjunctive illogical and distorted the intended meaning.Use of subjunctive depends on CONTEXT.

E.Since February, the Federal Reserve has raised its short-term interest rate target five times, and due to the fact of the economy’s continued strength, analysts predicted for weeks that the target will be raised again in November. .........>"due to the fact of" is unidiomatic .Here past time-frame(predicted) is used but the intended meaning is bearing present perfect continuous time-frame(have been predicting),thus shifted the meaning

Hi Kunal, a subordinate clause (Dependent clause) + an Independent clause, grammatically functions as an Independent clause. So, in the original sentence, following two Independent clauses are connected by coordinating conjunction and:

(i) Since February, the Federal Reserve has raised its short-term interest rate target five times
- Independent clause

(ii) Because of the economy’s continued strength, analysts have been predicting for weeks that the target will be raised again in November
- Subordinate clause (Because of...) + an Independent clause (analysts have been..), functioning as an Independent clause

p.s. Our book EducationAisle Sentence Correction Nirvana discusses clauses, their application and examples in significant detail. If someone is interested, PM me your email-id; I can mail the corresponding section.
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The prediction is valid until November. Only by November, one will know the actual. Therefore, the prediction remains intact until then.
If the original prediction is not currently existent, what is the new prediction now? There is no such thing. Therefore we have to take that the prediction is, as of now, continuing.
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Hi rashwiniyer, grammatically speaking, the sentence does not just say because; it says because of. The presence of of indicates that a prepositional phrase should follow.

In other words, since of is a preposition, it can be expected to be followed by a noun. This is exactly what's happening here.

If you are wondering whether because of the economy’s continued strength acts as an adverbial modifier, the answer is yes.

analysts have been predicting for weeks that the target will be raised again in November.

Why have analysts been predicting?

because of the economy’s continued strength.

p.s. Our book EducationAisle Sentence Correction Nirvana discusses difference between because and because of. Have attached the corresponding section of the book, for your reference.

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In the question," Prospecting for gold during the California gold rush was a relatively easy task, because of erosion, prehistoric glacier movement, and ancient, gold-bearing riverbeds thrust to the surface by volcanic activity put gold literally within reach for anybody with a pan or shovel."

sir you have written very effectively about the usage of 'because of' with Nouns or Noun Phrase, however, how would you explain the same usage here ? No one in this thread have touched that, and it creates a confusion.

Responding to a question that appeared on our Ask Me Anything About SC thread -- and I figured that it might help somebody here, too:


Sure! Take another look at (D): "due to the economy's continued strength, analysts..."

The phrase "due to _____" always modifies a noun. So this construction suggests that the analysts are due to the economy's strength! That doesn't make any sense.

"Because" on the other hand, can modify an action or a whole clause. Here's (A) again:

"...because of the economy's continued strength, analysts have been predicting for weeks that the target will be raised again..."

Now the analysts have been predicting something because of the economy's strength. Perfectly logical.

I hope that helps!
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