What’s the difference between “due to” and “as a result of”?

LXLT: What’s the difference between “due to” and “as a result of”?
i’m using the barron’s psat prep book. when i get to the section of identifying sentence errors, their answer explanations often indicate “due to” as the error, saying that “due to” cannot replace “as a result of”. what’s the difference between the two phrases and how are they used each in their own rights?

Answers and Views:

Answer by English Major
Due to refers to a situation that pre-exists. For example:

Due to my fear of spiders, I refuse to go down into the basement.

As a result of refers to what happens afterward. For example:

As a result of my going into the basement, I am now deathly afraid of spiders.

Answer by Flavio D
“Due to” is not a replacement for “as a result of” because it is an incomplete sentence.

The correct use of “due to” requires a verb (is, are) in front of of it. So, saying “due to the storm, the game was postponed” is incorrect. You may say “as a result of the storm, the game was postponed”. If you wish to use “due to”, you should say something like “the postponement of the game was due to the storm”.