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Is "because" twice in a sentence here natural sounding:

But that will be difficult because I can't moderate chats myself because I am not around much.

I need both becauses there. That's how the sentence makes sense. But I'm not sure if that's an okay structure.

Thanks in advance for the answers.

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  • Incidentally, though it has nothing to do with an answer to your question, a favourite exchange among children (at least those of my generation) is this: "Why do you have to do that?" "Because." "Because why?" "Because because." "Because because why?" "Because because because." I forget how such exchanges ended and would love for anyone to remind me... – Luke Sawczak Aug 10 '17 at 17:53
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An alternative to Sovereign Sun's use of as or since is to express the two tiers of reason with and:

But that will be difficult because I'm not around much and can't moderate chats myself.

This has the advantage of putting the key point on the left end of the sentence, the more emphatic 'new information' position.

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  • Thanks. And how about the use of "period" instead of the second because? Do you (a native speaker of English) think that would be natural sounding? Sovereign says it will make it a torn off sentence, but I kind of disagree. – Ahmed Aug 10 '17 at 12:54
  • @Ahmed I agree with you. – StoneyB on hiatus Aug 10 '17 at 12:56
  • I would instead place a semicolon before the second sentence. – SovereignSun Aug 10 '17 at 13:02
  • @SovereignSun Somehow the semicolon would be more ambiguous. It suggests that not being able to moderate chats leads to not being around much. The original sentence has the causality the other way around. – Luke Sawczak Aug 10 '17 at 17:51
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You can use "since" or "as" instead of "because" here.

Notice that because is more common both in spoken and in written English. In reference to Cambridge "because" mostly focuses on the reason while "as" and "since" mostly focus on the result and are also more formal.

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  • So you are saying I should "since" or "as" like this: "But that will be difficult since I can't moderate chats myself as I am not around much."? But that's equivalent to using "because" both times there, or is it natural sounding? Can you please re-write the sentence the way you want me to? – Ahmed Aug 10 '17 at 12:24
  • I would suggest this, "But that will be difficult because I can't moderate chats myself since I am not around much." – SovereignSun Aug 10 '17 at 12:26
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    Okay, thanks. I upvoted your answer but the score isn't changing. Thought I'd let you know. Something to do with me having only 1 rep I guess. :) – Ahmed Aug 10 '17 at 12:28
  • By the way, what if I use a period there the second time? Like this: "But that will be difficult because I can't moderate chats myself. I am not around much." – Ahmed Aug 10 '17 at 12:30
  • The second sentence sounds like a torn off phrase with no reference to the previous statement. – SovereignSun Aug 10 '17 at 12:39

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