Hence why we

Connect and share knowledge within a single location that is structured and easy to search. My question is, is the use of the word "hence", used in it's most common sense as an alternative to "therefore", strictly acceptable in English usage in the following example:.

I see a lot of people using the word "why" after the word "hence", and I have always considered it, at the very least, inefficient use of English. Happy to find out other views. Many thanks for all comments. It appears that this construct used to be a lot more popular in the s and continues to be used today. Going by Ngrams :. Excerpts : Barbara Heyman, I looked at it later in with the idea of arranging it for violin, cello, and piano.

The details of his pursuit were so undefined it was difficult to understand how the pursuit was supposed to work and hence why anyone should value it so highly. This may explain why the threat of stigmatization is largely ineffective against so-called informal sector firms which, as a rule, are not registered — and hence why transactions among informal sector firms remain quite unsophisticated. The last two examples could have a comma between the hence and the why.

The hence in both case means therefore and it is like saying therefore, why would anyone value. The why in both cases is the beginning of the next phrase and incidental. The first example is indeed a double usage. I wonder if these quotes were found by computer search? When you contrast coleopterist's Ngrams research with the answers shared between every other Google result, it appears that "hence why" is a case of "incorrect, but nobody cares" similar to "quadrilogy" which should use the Greek "tetra-" with the Greek "-logia" to form "tetralogy" but people have been getting it wrong since at least according to the OED.

Perhaps I haven't read enough older fiction, but my intuition has always agreed with the view that "hence why" is incorrect because it translates to "[that is the reason that] why". However, my intuition did also lead me into conflict with a more pedantic friend over whether "hence why" is ever valid on technical grounds.

The use my intuition keeps claiming validity for is that "hence why X" makes sense as a short form of "hence my decision to X" in contrast to "hence X", rendering the decision the primary subject of the clause, rather than the action taken as a result. After reading the various replies my mind is still inconclusive, however, the above answer: "incorrect, but nobody cares" seems to fit best.

I have always thought of 'hence' to be a word used in written communications in order to be succinct and formal, so when I hear people using the term 'hence why' in casual spoken conversation it really irritates me for some reason. It is probably due to the fact that the people saying 'hence why' are usually not very well educated people trying to sound important or clever. Lately, I have even heard journalists and politicians saying 'hence why'.

It appears they are using it as a synonymn for 'so' or 'therefore'. I quote this recent example from a political journalist:. Alas dear fellows, it is quite infuriating, hence now I must go hence in bitterness, in debt to your mercy.

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Learn more. Asked 9 years, 2 months ago. Active 3 months ago. Viewed 64k times. My question is, is the use of the word "hence", used in it's most common sense as an alternative to "therefore", strictly acceptable in English usage in the following example: I like bananas, hence why I eat them. Improve this question. Hence , there were no reasons to discount volumes of healthcare consumption or effects. Hence , we decided to categorize all instances of extra vowels at the end of a noun as ambiguous.

A bill based on the weight of the copper and later zinc , and hence the amount of electricity used, was sent to the household. It would also have implications for identifying the central pathways conveying the visual information, and hence for the retinal sources. These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

Translations of hence in Chinese Traditional. See more. Need a translator? Translator tool. What is the pronunciation of hence? Browse hemp. Test your vocabulary with our fun image quizzes. Image credits. Word of the Day sweetheart. Blog Outsets and onsets! Read More. November 08, To top. English American Examples Translations. Sign up for free and get access to exclusive content:. Free word lists and quizzes from Cambridge.

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