I have listened a reporter to say this on television:

“…and it’s why the P.M. had been in Saudi Arabia.”

It seemed to me he wasn’t making a question, but he used “it’s why” instead of “it’s because”. Is it a correct, acceptable way of speaking?

Question

I have listened a reporter to say this on television:

“…and it’s why the P.M. had been in Saudi Arabia.”

It seemed to me he wasn’t making a question, but he used “it’s why” instead of “it’s because”. Is it a correct, acceptable way of speaking?

Answer

Yes. All of the interrogative words "what", "where", "why", "who", and "when" can be used in this way. In addition to asking a question, they also have the capacity to act as a placeholder for the answer to a question:

"That is what I did"
"That is where I was"
"That is why I did it"
"That is who I saw"
"That is when it happened"

Answer

It’s fine. Although rather than using because you could change why to ‘the reason’.

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