<p>It appears to me that “because of doing sth” is always wrong in the SAT. i can provide several examples:</p>
<ol>
<li>Many ancient Eastern rulers favored drinking vessels made of celadon procelian because of supposedly revealing the presence of poison by cracking.</li>
</ol>
<p>a. as it is
e (OA) because it was supposed to reveal the presence of poison.</p>
<ol>
<li>Because of pleading in vain for improved maintenance services, the tenants refused to pay rent until the landlord agreed to make the much-needed repairs.</li>
</ol>
<p>a. as it is
b (OA) Having pleaded in vain for improved maintenance services, the tenants refused </p>
<p>In the two examples above, the two wrong answers both used “because of doing”. Can anyone explain the use of “because of doing sth”? When is it correct and when is it not?</p>
<p>one more example:
3. People were unprepared for the sinking of the Titanic simply because of believing that the ship was unsinkable.
a. as it is
c (OA) they believed that the ship was unsinkable</p>
<p>What you call “doing sth” is just a gerund phrase (a phrase with a gerund). A gerund is a verb form that acts as a noun. It refers to some act. For example, if I say Eating vegetables is good for me, “Eating” is the gerund. It represents the act of eating. A gerund doesn’t specify who is doing the action. So saying something like She left him because of cheating is ambiguous, because we don’t know who cheated. She could have left him because she herself cheated and felt guilty about doing so. She also could have left him because he cheated.</p>
<p>so is it safe to say that basically all phrases using “because of” and followed by gerunds are all wrong?</p>