substantially cause

USAGE SUMMARY

The phrase "substantially cause" is not correct in standard written English.
It may be intended to convey a significant or major cause, but the combination of the words is awkward and unclear. Example: "The changes in policy did not substantially cause the decline in sales, as other factors were also at play."

⚠ May contain grammatical issues

Science

News & Media

Human-verified similar examples from authoritative sources

Similar Expressions

60 human-written examples

As Mr Hall says:[E]vents that trigger a rise in fi nancial discounts, such as a fi nancial crisis, will lower job values substantially, causing a corresponding increase in unemployment and decline in output.

The Economist

We concluded, therefore, that CP's exceptional calculation performance might rather be based on neuroplastic changes substantially caused by years of daily hours of training combined with excellent working memory capabilities and not on the recruitment of additional brain mechanisms.

Neuropsychologia

During every 5-year plan, funding for research has increased substantially, causing research support to rise.

Science Magazine

However, usage of aggressive solvents and activating agents in multistep procedures of organic reactions at postsynthesis treatment as well as functional silanes and pore-expanding agents at sol-gel condensation process may affect the structure of final MCM-41-type materials substantially causing damage of their hexagonally ordered pore structure.

Nanoscale Research Letters

Vaccination rates have dropped substantially causing herd immunity to dip below healthy "safety thresholds".

Huffington Post

After analysing all of the error classifications of the coding audits, we found that the errors were substantially caused by coder (83percentt) rather than non-coder (17percentt) error.

BMC Health Services Research

This finding is similar to an earlier report by Coates et al (1992), where delay was substantially caused by naive perception regarding the vital significance of breast cancer symptoms.

British Journal of Cancer

Furthermore, this resulted in the decrease in the number of patients analyzed in multivariate analysis and might have substantially caused the reduction of statistical power, altering the value of non-significant results.

BMC Infectious Diseases

Agreement between informant-perceived and VA-derived causes of death at the individual level was limited, but varied substantially by cause of death.

Global Health Action

He said: "But as a substantially contributory cause as a result of a door-closing mechanism failure, it did.

BBC

Consequently, the electrode impedance is increased substantially, which causes a decline in signal quality.

Biophysics Reports

Expert writing Tips

Best practice

Avoid using "substantially cause" in formal writing. Instead, opt for clearer and more grammatically accepted alternatives such as "significantly contribute to" or "have a major impact on".

Common error

While "cause" is a versatile verb, using adverbs like "substantially" with it can create redundancy or awkward phrasing. Consider if the adverb is truly necessary or if a stronger verb would improve clarity, such as "trigger" or "generate".

Linguistic Context

The phrase "substantially cause" functions as a verb phrase, indicating a significant causal relationship. While the individual words are common, Ludwig AI suggests that the combination is not standard and can be improved by using alternative phrasings. It points to a scenario where one action considerably leads to another.

Expression frequency: Rare

Frequent in

Science

46%

News & Media

42%

Formal & Business

12%

Less common in

Academia

0%

Encyclopedias

0%

Wiki

0%

Ludwig's WRAP-UP

In summary, while "substantially cause" aims to express a significant causal relationship, Ludwig AI indicates it's not a standard or grammatically elegant phrase. It appears across diverse contexts such as science, news, and business, but clearer alternatives like "significantly contribute to" or "largely responsible for" are preferable. The phrase attempts to convey a primary cause but can be strengthened by using more direct and widely accepted wording to enhance clarity and grammatical correctness, making your writing more impactful.

More alternative expressions

Phrases that express similar concepts, ordered by semantic similarity:

significantly contribute to

Emphasizes the importance of the contribution to the cause.

heavily contribute to

Suggests a significant contribution to the cause or effect.

majorly influence

Highlights a strong degree of influence on the outcome.

have a substantial effect on

Focuses on the magnitude of the effect on the result.

be a significant factor in

Underlines the importance of the element in the process.

largely responsible for

Indicates primary accountability for a particular effect.

play a major role in

Highlights the importance of the role in causing the result.

be a primary driver of

Indicates being a key factor that propels a particular outcome.

considerably affect

Focuses on the extent to which something is changed or impacted.

greatly impact

Stresses the significant impact or effect on something.

FAQs

What are some alternatives to "substantially cause"?

You can use alternatives like "significantly contribute to", "largely responsible for", or "majorly influence" depending on the context.

Is "substantially cause" grammatically correct?

While the individual words are correct, the combination "substantially cause" is considered awkward and not standard in formal English. It's better to use more common phrases such as "significantly contribute to".

How can I use "significantly contribute to" instead of "substantially cause"?

Instead of saying "The policy changes substantially caused the decline in sales", you could say "The policy changes "significantly contributed to" the decline in sales."

What's the difference between "substantially cause" and "contribute to"?

"Contribute to" implies a partial cause, while "substantially cause" (though less common) suggests a major cause. However, "significantly contribute to" or "largely responsible for" is generally preferred over "substantially cause" for clarity.