étonnant et à cause de

Question

HiI have been taught that à cause de is used negatively. The positive usage is grace à. Whats your opinion?Again, étonnant is also used negatively or so i have been told. Maybe you wanted use it as such here.

Accepted Answer

Radhika, 
it is true that ‘ à cause de ‘ is often used in a ‘ negative sense ‘, but it is not restricted to that. It can be used neutrally as well, or, as here, in a ‘ positive statement ‘ when it is clear from the context that you are not ‘ attributing blame ‘ or ‘ complaining ‘, but talking about something you are happy about. 
However, you need to be particularly careful to choose ‘ grace à ‘  when talking to people if there could be any doubt about whether you are being thankful or critical.
 https://www.larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais/cause/13860
As for ‘ étonnant’ it is definitely used very often in a positive sense. 
 I think you may be thinking of the informal expression ‘ tu m’étonnes ‘ ( and variants ) - translating as something like ‘ I am not surprised ‘, ‘ tell me something new/I didn’t know ‘ etc
I hear this expression frequently in conversations between my wife and her sister !
https://www.lawlessfrench.com/expressions/tu-metonnes/?fbclid=IwAR3CaXOtrUwfMDHoWl9MxuCbFvkKdzGGclzypFbl5A9QZrmdeu-8vRYKDec

Answer

merci Maarten. Les liens sont très utiles