because of之后不能接從句嗎

because of是介詞嗎？它的后面可以接從句嗎? 請看下面的題目：

The man was punished __________ what he had done.

A. as                        B. since                        C. because                        D. because of

此題應選D。容易誤選C，因為按習慣思維：because之后接從句，而because of之后接名詞或代詞。

其實，because 作為從屬連詞，用以引導原因狀語從句，其后應是一個不含有引導詞的句子，而不能是 what引導的從句。另一方面，本題中的 what he had done＝the thing(s)that he had done。也就是說，這個what-從句從本質上看它相當于一個名詞，所以要選 because of。

請看以下類似的例子：

She cried because of what you said. 她哭是因為你說的話。

He left angrily because of what you said at the meeting. 他生氣地離去，是因為你在會上說的話。

He was sentenced to death because of what he had stolen from the bank. 他被判處死刑，是因為他從銀行所偷的東西。

注意：若用 because, 則其后的從句不應有引導詞。如(www.hz123456.com)：

Mr Smith couldn’t come because he was ill. 史密斯先生因病不能來。(比較：He couldn’t come because of his illness. )

The sports meet was put off because the weather was bad. 運動會因天氣不好而推遲。 (比較：The sports meet was put off because of the bad weather. )