介词短语 due to ... 和 owing to ... 的用法简介

due to和 owing to 都是表示原因的常用双词介词（有的书称为短语介词）。

一、常见用法

介词短语 due to ... 通常作表语（用于系动词be 的后面），也可以作原因状语；介词短语owing to ... 通常作原因状语，不能作表语。（在考试中最好遵循这种用法）例如：

The ambassador was absent owing to (= due to) illness. 大使因病缺席。（《韦氏高阶英汉双解词典》p.1488）

The count of inquiry ruled that the crash was due to pilot error. 调查法庭裁定飞机失事是由驾驶员的失误造成的。（2019年5月第1版《朗文当代高级英语辞典》第6版）

She has been absent from work due to illness. 他因病没去上班。（同上）

Owing to a lack of funds, the project will not continue next year. 由于缺乏资金，该项目明年将不再继续推进。（同上）

Flight BA213 has been delayed owing to fog. BA213 次航班因雾延误。（同上）

Due / Owing to the bad weather (,) the match was cancelled.  由于天气不好，比赛取消了。（《牛津英语用法指南》第四版439节）

We have had to postpone the meeting (,) due / owing to the strike. 由于罢工，我们不得不推迟开会的时间。（同上）

His success was due to his mother. 他的成功归功于他的母亲。（不能说：... was owing to his mother. ）（同上）

Their failure was due to a lack of care and attention. (NOT: was owing to) 他们的失败是由于不够细心和专注造成的。（不能用：was owing to）（《麦克米伦高阶英汉双解词典》p.491）

二、其他用法

在正式语体中，特别是在文学语言中，介词短语owing to ...也可以作表语。例如：

It was entirely owing to him that they acquired two bonus points. (John Sinchair: Prepositions , 2000 )多亏了他，他们获得了两个百分点的奖金。（转引自章振邦主编：《新编高级英语语法》p.414）

George Saintsbury thought this was owing to the fact that for ten years he had written , post-haste , a mass of novels just to make a bare living. (K. Schibsbye: A Modern English Grammar , 1979) 乔治圣茨伯里认为这种情形是因为十年来他急急忙忙地写了一大堆小说仅是为了糊口。（同上）

【注】介词及其宾语一起叫做介词短语。有的书如章振邦主编的《新编高级英语用法》把介词短语叫做介词词组，把介词的宾语叫做（介词的）补足成分。