Language tip of the week: reason

In this weekly post, we bring more useful content from the Macmillan Dictionary to English language learners. These tips are usually based on areas of English which learners find difficult, e.g. spelling, grammar, collocation, synonyms, etc.

This week’s language tip helps with the noun reason:

After reason, use the preposition for, not of:
✗ The main ~~reason of~~ poverty is unemployment.
✓ The main reason for poverty is unemployment.
✗ A doctor can’t operate if he doesn’t know the ~~reason of~~ the illness.
✓ A doctor can’t operate if he doesn’t know the reason for the illness.