From the Mailbag

When to use "since" or "because"

Use "because" when you mean a causal connection.

"I started taking vitamins because I was feeling tired."

"Because" has only this meaning, and thus, it is a very precise signal that is useful in legal writing. It is natural, given the content of legal writing, that you will use "because" quite often.

Use "since" when you mean a temporal connection.

"Since I began taking vitamins, I have more energy."

"Since" can be used to signal a logical connection, but that is not its only purpose. For that reason, avoid using "since" when its meaning could be ambiguous to your reader.

Determining whether "since" is clear takes some thought, so I find it useful to use "because" routinely for logical connections. When "because" becomes distractingly frequent in my sentences, I try restructuring the sentence to use "thus" or "therefore." "Since" isn't incorrect as a logical connection, but it's hard to use precisely.

When to use "different" or "differently"

Use "differently" when it modifies a verb.

"He spoke differently after the accident."

Use "different" or "bad" when it modifies a noun or pronoun.

"His speech patterns were different after the accident."

Often the uncertainty occurs when the word that is being modified is not beside "different" or "differently."

"He felt different after the accident."

"He felt bad about the mistake."

Here "different" and "bad" really describes him, not the way in which he feels things, so you use "different." It really means something like "He felt different emotions [or physical symptoms] after the accident."

Seldom is "differently" or "badly" correct with "feel," so I can only come up with goofy examples at the moment.

"He felt the keyboard differently when he played the piano blindfolded."

"He felt badly after the hormone therapy numbed his tactile response."

(If you want another example, you can also look under "Bad or Badly" in Legal Writing: Getting It Right and Getting It Written, if you have a copy. For an overall review of the rule here, look under "-ly or Not" in the same book.)