Events explained in conversational ‘because’ statements

‘Because …’ statements in 40 unobtrusively recorded conversations between middle‐class speakers were examined. Other people's single actions ‐ attribution theory's paradigm case for explanation ‐ were not frequently brought up for explanation. Events speakers brought up for explanation were, in order of frequency: general states of the world, events involving speakers or their groups, and lastly events involving other people. Implications for attribution theory and for the study of ordinary explanations are discussed.