Is "is that" grammatically correct?

Question

Can the words "is" and "that" be used back-to-back in the following sentence?

The reason I went to the store is that I ran out of milk.

Similarly, can "is" and "because" be used as such? For example:

The reason I went to the store is because I ran out of milk.

You're asking about the construction X Be that S. A that complement clause (as here) can be used as the predicate of an identificational sentence with X (here X = The reason (that/why) I went to the store) and the form of Be is is. A because clause is also acceptable when the X is a reason or cause; this is the case here, but not everywhere. — John Lawler, Oct 07 '14 at 02:05
Does this answer your question? Is it correct to say "The reason is because ..."? — Edwin Ashworth, Oct 03 '20 at 11:58

score 0 · Answer 1 · edited Oct 02 '20 at 21:42

0

Anywho, to answer your question, Bob, I believe it is, it would be much simpler to rephrase/reconstruct your sentence and instead say, "I went to the store because I ran out of milk." This flows much more easily.

I agree with what the comment above me says as well. You may say "is that", although I HATE the word "that", but you may not say "is because" because they are both the same type of word.

edited Oct 02 '20 at 21:42

KillingTime

6,206

answered Oct 02 '20 at 21:32

Berry jojo mami

1

Welcome to EL&U, Berry. This comes across as a bit of a comment instead of an answer. Please take a moment to [tour] the site and read the [FAQ]. Stick around and you'll be able to contribute comments soon. – livresque Oct 02 '20 at 22:38

score -1 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 07 '14 at 01:38

-1

According to http://www.getitwriteonline.com/archive/072303reasonbecause.htm "is that" is fine, but "is because" is not correct because of redundancy.

~~Droonkid

answered Oct 07 '14 at 01:38

Droonkid

108

5

Oh, that's BS. Because is fine, but that is shorter. – John Lawler Oct 07 '14 at 02:01
I'd avoid it, but redundancy is ranked on a scale of acceptability. Some redundancies are seen as fine and dandy. For this one, see M-W's usage note. – Edwin Ashworth Oct 03 '20 at 13:06

Is "is that" grammatically correct?

2 Answers2

Linked