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Hello,
I was wondering if someone could help with this seemingly American English question.
(I was educated under the British English system and relatively new to American English.)
DD found this in a reading comprehension passage:
"JaneDoe never did anything 'just because'".
And then a question asking for the exact meaning of the phrase "just because" by itself without say "just because A blah blah B" and such.
The phrase seems colloquial even teenage lingo..right? legit english?
sorry don't mean to split hairs on this but I will know better than to ignore what I think is colloquial !

It seems the point of this question is to interpret the meaning of the idiom "just because", in this context. You are correct - most Americans don't use that idiom on a regular basis, so I think that the author of the question is trying to get the test taker to interpret this idiom from context cues. How's that for a long-winded answer?

"Just because" is used when you don't really have a reason or you don't want to explain a reason. I use it with my son sometimes when he'll want a long explanation of something and I don't want to take that much time. So, "Jane Doe never did anything 'just because'" would mean that she always has a reason for everything she does. HTH.

I'd interpret it as saying that JaneDoe always acted deliberately - she always had a reason for what she did. Never did anything "just because [she felt like it]"

Interesting differences here- I would interpret "just because" in that frame to have a bit of a negative connotation. As in she never does anything "just because" she has to receive something in return. Or she doesn't act out of the goodness of her heart.

I think we'd need more of a context to decide whether the phrase is intended positively (she was deliberate) or negatively (she always wanted something in return). Either could be correct.

Did the test give possible answers from which to choose?

Whatever... (that's another one, LOL!)

Kriston is right. It depends on the intonation of 'because' - a rising accent on "because" is the negative.

Whether the inference is negative or positive (which we can't tell out of context) the meaning is the same. Jane always has a reason for what she does.

Time to call PETA?