[color=red]1-He is an idiot because of the way he treats his girlfriend.
2-He is an idiot for the way he treats his girlfriend.
(Meaning: I say he is an idiot because of the way he treats his girlfriend.)
[color=indigo]3-She is in love with him because of the way she looks at him.
4-She is in love with him for the way she looks at him.
(Meaning: I say She is in love with him because of the way she looks at him.)
I don’t know if one needs a comma before “for” and “because” in each case or not.
I’d say they were all correct except 4 and don’t require a comma.
With 4, I would use:
(I can tell) she is in love with him from the way she looks at him.
I am not really happy about the use of ‘for’ in your sentences. You can’t really use ‘for’ as a substitute for ‘because (of)’. ‘Because’ gives the reason for something but ‘for’ doesn’t explain the reason but simply adds extra information as in this sentence: She is clearly in love with him for she knows that he will always support her.
I think both 1 and 2 are OK for informal English, but I’d be more comfortable with something such as the introductory ‘I say’ included in 2.
I don’t like sentences 3 and 4 as they are written. Neither one makes much sense to me. In my opinion, the use of ‘because of’ in sentence 3 really only works with something such as ‘I say’ at the beginning. Without that, I don’t think the sentence makes sense. However, you could reword this way, for example:
3a - She is in love with him because of the way he looks at her.
To me, that makes sense, but of course the second half of the sentence is different, as is the meaning you intended originally. That sentence gives us the reason she is in love with him – i.e. the way he looks at her is the reason she is love with him.
In order to use ‘for’ in sentence 4, you could use a rewording similar to 3a above:
4a - She is in love with him for the way he looks at her.
Again, this makes sense to me, but the meaning is not the same as what you intended. The word ‘for’ would indicate a reason – the reason she is in love with him. The word ‘for’ is sometimes used with a meaning similar to ‘because of’ or ‘as a result of’. Look here, for example.
Yes, I agree that this wording is better than the original wording.
Yes, the word ‘for’ can be used to mean something similar to ‘because’, but the intended meaning in Navi’s sentences was ‘because of’ rather than just ‘because’.
So, there you are, Navi. Three opinions so far, none of them quite the same. (Gasp!)
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[i][size=75]"The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once." ~ Albert Einstein[/size][/i]
Thank you all! I guess there are hazy areas in language, or at least in the English language!
I like to know which areas are hazy in English, so I like it when there are multiple replies to a question.
