As, because, since and seeing that or seeing as all give a reason.

There is no difference in meaning.

However, there are some other differences, as follows:

Since is formal. You will usually find since in writing.

Seeing that and seeing as are informal, so only use those in speaking or in an informal email to your friend.

What they have in common is this:

You can use all of them in the middle of your sentence, after a comma (,), but you can also use them at the beginning of your sentence.

Examples

Here are a bunch of examples, and when you’ve looked at these you should do the exercise:

Seeing as Debbie brought us out here, she should know how to find her way back.

We demand to be paid for extra hours, as we worked until 11 o’clock on three nights last week.

The visibility on the crossroads should be improved, since too many accidents happen.

Let’s sleep over at our friends’, seeing that we don’t have money for a hotel.

Because I’m on holiday next week, I won’t be able to teach the workshop.

Exercise:

Match a suitable clause from A and B, using the indicated connector.

A	B
The neighbours must be on holiday	You must be really addicted.
Kylie has come to talk to me	We assume you are no longer interested in our offer.
You’re playing on your DS all day long	Our garden has turned into a jungle.
The Johnsons left early in the morning	Ronnie is selling his entire Lego collection.
We haven’t received your payment yet	I haven’t seen or heard them all week.
We’ve scheduled you with Dr Bini	The drive to the theme park will take them about 3 hours.
He needs the money	You never take the time to listen to her.
It must have been warm when we were away from home	Dr Wallstone is on holiday.

 

1 __________________________________, as ______________________________.

2 Since _____________________________, ________________________________.

3 __________________________________, seeing as_________________________.

4 ________________________________, because ___________________________.

5 As ________________________________ , _______________________________.

6 _________________________________, since ____________________________.

7 Seeing that _________________________, _______________________________.

8 ________________________________, because ___________________________.

You can check your answers at the bottom of this page.

Want to do more exercises with connectors? Have a look here:

How to Use Since

Connectors in Your Emails

Connectors for Beginners

 

 

 

 

 

 

Answers:

1 The neighbours must be on holiday, as I haven’t seen or heard them all week.

2 Since we haven’t received your payment yet, we assume you are no longer interested in our offer.

3 It must have been warm when we were away from home, seeing as our garden has turned into a jungle.

4 Kylie has come to talk to me, because you never take the time to listen to her.

5 As you’re playing on your DS all day long, you must be really addicted.

6 We’ve scheduled you with Dr Bini, since Dr Wallstone is on holiday.

7 Seeing that he needs the money, Ronnie is selling his entire Lego collection.

8 The Johnsons left early in the morning, because the drive to the theme park will take them about 3 hours.