Well, no, this isn’t a strictly Kindle discussion, but I thought that, since we’re all readers of a very high order , there must be some usages and constructions out there that just grate on us as (not "like") fingernails on a blackboard. The one that persistently raises my hackles is this: "The reason I didn’t come to your party last night is because I was ill." It’s that "reason is because" construction that just drives me wild. Reasons simply ARE. Actions are because. One could say "The reason I didn’t come to your party last night is that I was ill." Or you could say, "I didn’t come to your party last night because I was ill." But you can’t put them in the same sentence; it’s redundant. I think the thing about it that annoys me most is that I can hear it coming! As soon as someone says "the reason," my hackles go up and I just dread hearing "because" somewhere in the ensuing sentence. And on those rare occasions when I hear "that," I say a silent "thank you" and bless the speaker.

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