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Question The game was called off by the rain.

hirashin

Sempai
Donor
8 Apr 2004
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Dear native English speakers,
which sentences would be used?
(a) The game was called off by the rain.
(b) The game was called off because of the rain
(c) Because of the rain, the game was called off.
(d) The rain called off the game.

Thanks in advance.
Hirashin
 
I would use (b) and (c). Also, The game was called off due to the rain.
And another -- I don't know if it's grammatical but it's a common phrase:
The game was called off on account of rain.
 
I have a question. Why do you use "rain" without "the" in this case? Is "the" optional here?

In ALL of these sentences (not just the last one mentioned), you can use either "rain" or "the rain". If you use "the rain", it is referring to a specific occurrence of rain that you expect your audience (i.e., the people you are speaking to or writing to) to be familiar with. Without "the", it is referring to a non-specific occurrence of rain.

Not using "the" is much more common, as it is usually not necessary to refer to a specific occurrence of rainfall. As a specific example, if you are talking on the phone to a person in a different part of the country who is not aware of the weather in your area, and that person asks you if your team won the game, you would not say "it was called off because of the rain", as it would sound unnatural in that case, as the person you are speaking with was not aware that it had been raining. You would simple say "it was called off because of rain".
 
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