Re: "As" as "Since"

[Mark Levinson <mark -at- SD -dot- CO -dot- IL>]

I suppose the idea is that "as" is used to mean "since" in the
sense of "because"?  Not that people are saying things like
"Clinton has been President as 1993", right?

In the sense of "because", "as" is not incorrect, but like
"since" it needs to be watched for possible ambiguity.

Here is the entry from Anu Garg's online Webster's
Collegiate.  The fifth definition of the conjunction is
what I'm assuming is in question.

1 as \*z, (.)az\ conj
  1: in the same amount or degree in which <green as grass>
  2: the same way that <farmed as his father before him had farmed>
  3: WHILE, WHEN <spoke to me as I was leaving>
  4: THOUGH <improbable as it seems, it's true>
  5: SINCE, BECAUSE <as I'm not wanted, I'll leave>
  6: that the result is <so guilty as to leave no doubt>

2 as adv
  1: to the same degree or amount : EQUALLY <as green as grass>
  2: for instance <various trees, as oak or pine>
  3: when considered in a specified relation <my opinion as
     distinguished from his>

3 as pron
  1: THAT -- used after same or such <it's the same price as before>
  2: a fact that <he is rich, as everyone knows>

4 as prep : in the capacity or character of <this will serve as a
  substitute>
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||- Mark L. Levinson, mark -at- sd -dot- co -dot- il -- Box 5780, 46157 Herzlia, Israel -||
||     You can't judge right by looking at the wrong. - Willie Dixon    ||