due to and owing to

Due to and owing to are similar to ‘because of’. Due to is more common than owing to.

Phrases beginning due/owing to are often separated from the rest of their sentence by a comma.

• Due/Owing to the bad weather(,) the match was cancelled.
• We have had to postpone the meeting(,) due/owing to the strike.

Some people believe it is incorrect to use due to at the beginning of a clause in this way, but the structure is common in educated usage.

Due to can also follow the verb be. Owing to is not usually used like this.

• His success was due to his mother. (not … was owing to his mother.)